Western Meadowlarks have split personalities.
During breeding season when they spend endless hours singing on territory they’re incredibly “sticky” and typically allow the photographer a close approach (at least around here). Often I have to be careful to not get too close for my big lens – a problem I wish I had with most other songbirds. But for the rest of the year they’re spooky as hell. Usually I don’t/can’t photograph them for about 8 months of the year because I can’t get close enough and when winters are warmer some of them stick around all year long. It’s frustrating.
The same can be true for many other songbirds but in my experience to a much lesser degree. It’s like meadowlarks flip a switch in early August and there’s nothing in-between.
I want to be up front about the photos that follow. They have little meaning for me as “great shots”- they fall short of that. But when a bird acts out of character and it’s to my advantage I take notice so I thought birders and bird photographers who follow my blog might be interested too.
Two days ago while photographing American Pipits on a large pile of rocks this Western Meadowlark landed on top of the pile and no more than 20′ from me. It was a little nervous about me being so close so it didn’t give me any pose variety but it stayed there as it watched me for quite a while. This photo was taken with my smaller zoom lens at only 400mm.
I was close to flabbergasted because I hadn’t been anywhere near this close to a meadowlark for months and they’re very common around here. I think the many nearby pipits were a little taken aback too.
This shot was taken with my 500mm lens. It’s full frame (uncropped) except for a sliver taken off of the left side of the frame for composition purposes.
I can only speculate about why the bird came in so close. My best guess is that I had been at the rockpile (inside my pickup) photographing pipits for so long that the meadowlark thought my vehicle was just part of the landscape and by the time it spotted me clicking away inside my pickup it had already landed close and nothing happened so it stayed.
Most will probably think it’s a waste of time to speculate about motivation – after all, birds are largely unpredictable by nature and every serious bird photographer has had similar experiences. But I can’t help myself – a meadowlark so close I could almost touch it with a long stick in mid-October gets my attention. Nearly always this time of year they fly off before I’m within 100′ of them.
I often refer to my pickup as my “mobile blind” because birds are much less afraid of vehicles than they are of humans on foot. I guess this was just more evidence of that fortunate phenomenon.
Ron
Notes:
- This time of year meadowlark colors are significantly less vivid than during the breeding season. I knew that of course but being this close and seeing it still surprised me a little.
- I’m a little confused by something about the second photo above. In this version the eye and face look soft but they’re both sharp when I zoom in to 100% in the RAW file. Doesn’t make sense to me…
Good looking bird! The rock patterns are quite interesting — the darker band around the rock in front of the bird echoes the darker patterns on his wings. Glad you found an unusually sticky one!
Thank you, Marty.
I have noticed the phenomenon of sharpness on bird photos. I especially notice on birds with soft feathers like owls and poor wills. Do you think it might have to do with the feather construction?
I’d say it absolutely does sometimes, April. I’ve noticed it in some owls especially.
How wonderful to be so close to this charmer. I really like those rocks too.
On the sharpness front my ignorance shines like a good deed in an evil world (as it so often does).
“my ignorance shines like a good deed in an evil world”
An especially apt analogy these days, EC.
Funny you should post this bird today
because I saw one here in Arizona along the
VERDE RIVER all by itself.
Coincidence I guess…
Yes, Very elusive indeed. When I was at AI in June I could hear them singing at what seemed very close but never got to see one until the very end of my days there. Was lucky to finally get one shot on my last day !!
I’m surprised they were that hard to find on the island. Usually in June they seem to be everywhere.
Our Eastern Meadowlarks respond accordingly. I find them a difficult bird to approach at any time. The only time I’ve gotten close photos is when i’ve been parked for a long time photographing another species and they happen to fly in. There is a different degree of sharpness between the two. Unusual. I notice that to my eyes, (and I need to change my prescription) the catch light on the second photo seems to be slightly horizontally elongated. It could be just my eyes because when I try to really look closely my eyes just can’t focus well on it. Perhaps the bird did some barely perceptible head movement. Strange phenomenon for sure.
“Perhaps the bird did some barely perceptible head movement”
Kathy, if that had been the cause of the softness it would have showed up in the RAW file. It didn’t. Besides I had oodles of shutter speed (which I didn’t post).
Interesting! 🙂 This one does still have a fair amount of color. Of course, spring/summer is when they are here. No idea on sharpness issue
Judy. They never lose all their color but they’re certainly less vivid this time of year.
Interesting post Ron. On occasion I have been very close to Meadowlarks here while on foot, but of course for the most part they don’t hang around when they see me coming. Always one of my favorite birds and love that song. And of course very true about the difference between a vehicle and the human photographer. Birds definitely seem to know the difference between a living breathing human and an inanimate object. Nice shots.
Everett, Using a vehicle as a blind is very effective compared to being on foot. However I realize that not everyone’s shooting situation would allow it.
You should camo skin your truck Ron. But, then you would probably have to jack it up, put on huge tires, bling the grill, morph the muffler and exhaust and mount some flags. You might also gave to start wearing a red hat. On deck d thought, never minfmd.
Fat fingers kicked in at the end there. Here it is again. On second thought, never mind.
Bradley, I’d rather walk (or crawl) than drive a pickup like you describe. And I’m not kidding.
20 feet near, must have been interested in the critter in the mobile blind, intriguing species with predictable behaviors and that one big eye.
I’ve noticed some sharpness variables while cropping and zooming in RAW, but I can’t tell what it’s all about, just another mystery in life for me.
“I’ve noticed some sharpness variables”
I can’t figure it out, Dave. Something like this has only very rarely happened to me and it just doesn’t make sense.