With a few high clouds lingering a little before sunset on Monday, I made a snap decision to drive out to Red Canyon. About 15 miles west of the park on Utah Highway 12, Red Canyon is the same Claron Formation sediments as Bryce Canyon. It is actually better at sunset since it is on the western side of the plateau, while Bryce, facing east, provides better photo ops at sunrise. Hoodoo formation is quite as dramatic, but there are a few, and this one, right next to the highway, happened to be perfectly aligned with some of the clouds to frame up a photo.
Tough Tuesday Birding: The weather has been mild lately, with no significant snow now since the storm over the holidays. Unfortunately the wind was howling both of my days off this week and it certainly kept the birds lying low. I still ended up finding 14 species, two of which - Cassin's Finch and Mountain Bluebird - were "year birds". This Bald Eagle was one of several I saw (I didn't count individuals, but probably 7 or 8 total). It was pretty far away and I had to crop this image rather dramatically just to get this. The head and tail are both kind of dirty looking with brown feathers mixed in with the white so, if we were aging this bird, my guess is we're looking at an eagle just entering its fifth year. In another year those feathers will be white as new fallen snow.
I miss Utah sunsets. Nice work as always!
Wow! The Bald Eagle looks strange!
Thanks Lisa! It was painful going to work this morning; I could see the clouds lighting up just before sunrise and it was amazing . . . aargh!
BWB - Yes it does look a little funny with the "dirty" head. Those first four years they go through some major changes in appearance and, especially in 2nd year birds, they can be quite variable.