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A Last Day at Antelope Island

December 31, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: American Kestrel, Antelope Island State Park, Birding, birds, birdwatching, Buffalo, Chuckar, Coyote, nature, photography, Utah, wildlife | 10 comments

I also posted this on my other blog, Baby Aspirin Years. I felt that it should live on both blogs. (Apologies if you subscribe to both.)

It’s the last day of 2012. There have been a lot of wrap up posts floating around and I kept thinking how I would wrap up this year. A year of pictures, showing one per month? A list of things I learned? A list of all the fantastic things I did? Others have written eloquent posts going down memory lane. Me? I kept drafting one and then I felt like I was creating something akin to the ol’ Christmas Letter.

Today Steve and I visited Antelope Island. It’s the last day of the year and the last full day we have together before he heads back to Calgary tomorrow. For me, it’s the perfect wrap up of my year.

: Antelope Island in Winter

It was perfectly white. Perfectly peaceful and perfectly sums up how I feel about this year: A balance of harshness and beauty. Challenges and triumphs. But mostly, it’s where Steve and I go to escape the world and spend quality time together.

View the gallery by clicking on any one of the photos below. They look yummier that way.

: Surprised this American Kestrel we saw on the causeway allowed us to get this close.

: One of the many buffalo lays atop a blanket of snow.

: View of Promontory Point in the distance

: Mixed flock of Red-winged black birds, Yellow-headed blackbirds, Brewer’s Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds.

: A covey of Chuckars (there were about 12 in the group)

: There’s something sweet about this photo.

: Antelope on Antelope Island

: We spot a coyote in the distance. He spots us too.

: At Garr Ranch on the island, Steve spots this sub species of the Red-tailed Hawk. It’s either Harlan’s Hawk or a Krider’s Hawk, we think. Uncommon for this area.

: Also found at Garr Ranch is this Virginia Rail, which is quite unusual this time of year. Garr Ranch has warm springs that don’t freeze over, which is probably part of the attraction.

: A covey of California Quail at Garr Ranch on Antelope Island.

: We spot two porcupines in a tree on our way back to the causeway. Neither seem bothered by the fact that Steve is practically in their faces taking their photos.

: Yes, the porcupine looks cuddly, but don’t kid yourself.

: After a morning of snowfall the sun makes an appearance.

This is what Antelope Island looks like in October

October 14, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: American Avocets, Antelope Island, Birding, birds, Buffalo, Coyote, photography, Salt Bush, Utah, wildlife | 4 comments

It was quiet and the Great Salt Lake was as still as glass. I may have counted about four cyclists on the whole island, and there weren’t a whole lot of cars. Most people on this weekend were likely taking their annual drive on the Alpine Loop in American Fork Canyon–about an hour and 1/2 away–peeping at the yellowy Aspens near Sundance Resort. Antelope Island doesn’t have the Aspens, but October is when the Salt Bush was in bloom and it’s mustard color painted the entire island for us. Hooray for us few who were on Antelope Island. It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

This is Antelope Island State Park in October. The Eared Grebes were still in large numbers, but not as many as I saw reported a couple weeks ago and the Avocets were sporting their winter outfits (I actually thought they were a different species until Steve explained to me they changed color with the changing season. “Kind of like your closet,” he told me).

Fall migration is still going on, but most people think all the “good” activity has come and gone. Even so, if you miss Antelope Island in October you miss all this.