Pic of the Day

Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus:

Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area; Farmington, Utah

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f4, 1/250 sec. @ f7.1

Pic of the Day

     Black-necked Stilt – Farmington Bird Sanctuary; Farmington, Utah:  About forty miles south of the famous Bear River NWR is the Farmington Bird Sanctuary.  Farmington is a little known bird photography paradise along the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake.  Like Bear River, Farmington host the same species of birds, but it is smaller, and the birds seem a bit less shy.  Along with stilts, American avocets, cinnamon teal, coot, yellow-headed and red-winged blackbirds nest right up to the road.  Another thing,  fewer people visit this sanctuary as compared with Bear River, meaning less disturbance when shooting.

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f4 EDIF VR, 1/320 sec. @ f7.1

Pic of the Day

     Black-necked Stilt – Farmington Bird Sanctuary; Farmington, Utah:  Driving through the Farmington Bird Sanctuary I saw this Black-necked Stilt aimlessly wandering in a circle.  I stopped, used my van as a blind and began shooting.  I took numerous images, but with each image I shot I was perplexed over the behavior.  There seem to be no reason for the aimless wandering. 

After about five minutes of shooting another stilt that I had notice feeding about a hundred feet away suddenly took flight and flew directly to the bird I was photographing.  As soon as the new stilt alighted the bird I had been photographing flew off and the new arrival walked about three feed into the nearby grasses and settled onto a nest.  The behavior of the bird I had been photographing now made sense. 

The male had been protecting the nest from potential predators while the female was away feeding.  


Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f4 VRII, 1/250 @ f8