BY JOHN BYRON TURNER — This past winter lasted so long that my wife and I were experiencing serious cabin fever here in Parowan. So, rather than becoming permanent couch potatoes, we set out to photograph some of the birds of prey that we have seen along the rural roads throughout the Iron County farmlands.

Jennifer has always been an avid bird watcher and I have been involved in many areas of photography most of my life. We are both retired now, so we headed down the farm roads once or twice a week when we weren’t getting blasted by yet another snowstorm.

On our first couple of trips, we wanted to find the bald eagles we had read about in this newspaper, and we found quite a few. Along the way we also saw lots of hawks…mostly red tails, and recently we spotted a very well-camouflaged pair of owls who had just built a nest. Once spring got closer we began seeing several hawk nests, so we now have eight or ten sites which we regularly monitor and are seeing the birds attending to their eggs.

  

Now that the snowy farm fields have turned to lush green crops, we have watched the owl hatch two owlets that started out as little fuzz balls resembling Ewoks from Star Wars, but we have watched them turn into fierce, curious little owls. We have seen them start to advance to a stage known as branching, where they test life out of the nest for the first time, and start to try out their wings, under the close supervision of their parents.

In photographing these beautiful birds, we learned pretty quickly that none of these birds are anxious to pose for a camera, and that a lot of patience is necessary when shooting bird photos. The hawks were especially anxious for us to leave their territory and would hover over our heads menacingly. You can only get so close before they get spooked, and we don’t want to disturb their habitat, so a telephoto lens is a must.

Also, while it can be easier to spot and photograph birds during winter, when the trees are bare, now that summer has arrived it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find them. So please be watchful and careful.