Sometimes the presence of a tiny, almost miniscule arthropod can make or break a bird photograph.
I’ve taken shots where “bugs”, flying and otherwise, were so distracting that I either had to clone them out (I really dislike cloning and seldom do it) or leave them in and live with the consequences. Typically I leave them in since I tend to like the spontaneity and “naturalness” of their presence but there are times when I think they detract from the image.
But occasionally a single small insect can significantly enhance a photograph.
1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
I photographed this female Williamson’s Sapsucker in Clark County, Idaho on my recent camping trip. She was delivering ants to her chicks in the nest-hole just above her but out of frame. Typically she and her mate would land on the aspen near this spot before flying up to the nest.
I took several thousand images of the sapsuckers at the tree and in many of them they were carrying ants for their youngsters but in virtually all of those the ants were non-distinct round globs in the bill, just as most of them appear here. But in this one image there’s a single ant hanging down from her bill from one leg and the “pose” of the ant against that background really makes it stand out. Ants are an important part of this image but they’re so small that usually one cannot see them distinctly. This single ant solves the problem and for that reason I kept coming back to the image and eventually decided to post it.
If only the sapsucker hadn’t chosen this spot to perch, where the date someone carved on the aspen shows up so clearly…
Ron
Addendum: In a comment (below), Susan Stone mentioned an individual ant on the top of the bill just in front of the face of the sapsucker. For some reason I didn’t even notice that little feller so I got curious and cropped tightly to get a better look with more detail. It appears to me that the ant is crawling around free up there. That freedom didn’t last long though…
Good eye, Susan!
Hi! Love that Ant barely holding on! Great photo’s! Keep up the great shots. Have a great day!
Yes, that is an eye-catching ant. The date jumped out at me as well, although I think you found a very good solution with the crop.
Sensational Ron! Thanks for sharing!
Charlotte
Die, ant, DIE!!! Which is the cue for maniacal laughter from here.
Stunning image – and the defacement caused by an earlier visitor (human(ish) of course) just throws the beauty of the bird into greater prominence.
Thank you, Elephant’s Child. Lately I’ve been more aware of carvings in aspen trees. To escape the valley heat I spent yesterday in the mountains and those ugly carvings seem to be everywhere. I despise them.
I didn’t see the 04 until I read your words. It’s a powerful reminder of what we choose to leave behind (and a sad one to me.)
Well, I’m glad to hear that date didn’t jump out and bite you, Arwen. It does me, every time, but then I’ve looked at a lot of images where that carving shows up.
I thought of your curiosity regarding “handedness” today when I read this on Montana Osprey Cams:
Rapunzel’s wanderings – serial novel chapter 9
We know that animals show right-handed and left-handed (or footed) preferences just as people do. From Margaret Sloan’s and Greg Lavety’s photos, I suspect that Rapunzel is left-footed!
Maybe this also applies to your short-eared owls!
Marjie, You could very well be right. “Handedness” has been documented in some birds species and not others but many species that exhibit handedness are apparently raptors (and parrots).
Ron, in this image I think the ant is far larger than the carved initials. I don’t like the carving either, but the image of the sapsucker is so powerful that the carving is (for me) only a secondary annoyance. It looks to me like she also has an ant on the top of her bill, right up next to the feathers. This is a very special picture. I love it!
Thanks, Susan. And you’re right about that ant up top. I’ve posted a cropped version of the image in response to your comment.
Thanks for posting the cropped version. The number of ants looks even more amazing in that one. That is one very special photo.
Your photos are now part of my morning routine!
Thanks – Karen
Delighted to hear it, Karen. I’m trying to figure out which “Karen” you were from the CBHS class of ’65 – Karen E. or Karen K….
Hi Ron,
It’s a great image, as always, and your title really caught my attention. Sounds like one of Aesop’s Fables! Maybe there’s a moral here. Or at least a clever caption…
Thanks!
Cheers,
Dick
Dick, I also thought of Aesop’s Fables when I wrote that title. We think alike…
Another great shot Ron!!!That hanging ant says it all!!!
Thank you, Ellen.
Amazing that she can pick up so many ants at a time.You’d think each time she tried to pick up another, she lose the previous one. But there she is…with a beak full of the frisky little things. I feel some dummy’s date carved into the tree could be a valuable teaching element…a reminder of what not to do and why…of the permanence of such ugly desecration.
“Amazing that she can pick up so many ants at a time.You’d think each time she tried to pick up another, she lose the previous one.”
I’ve had the same thought many times, Patty. Reminds me of some seabirds with their beaks stuffed with alewives.
This image reminds me of a lesson I have not learned yet. A burst is essencial when we are photographing birds.
Have you ever seen how she grabs those ants?
Wonderful shot.
Jorge, “burst” is almost my middle name. I shoot so much for behaviors and action and birds are so fast that I typically shoot at higher shutter speeds and ISO’s than most bird photographers. I take a lot of images that way and I get a lot of garbage but I do get some I like that I’d have missed otherwise.
I like the shot Ron, but to me not knowing that she is heading to her chicks, it looks like either the ants are partaking of the sugary sap she might have on her bill or that they are attacking her around her bill. Either way I find it an interesting shot, and especially that you have informed us she is taking the ants to her chicks.
She and her mate took LOTS of ants to those chicks, Dick. They were a hungry lot!
Lovely image Ron. The ant is the icing on the cake and makes it unique and interesting as well as technically very well done. I know you don’t like the human element here but I have been thinking about this. This is actually a part of this environment and I think it is okay for it to show. It makes it a more true reflection of this environment.
Well, that carved date in the tree certainly is a “true reflection of this environment, Wendy. I just wish it weren’t so. Thank you.