Category: Birds

A Chukar Sentry Abandons Its Post

I’ve never been able to get a Chukar in flight or taking off, largely because they’re so hesitant to fly.  Even when they’re perched on an elevated rock they usually just hop to the ground when they’re ready to leave.  And when they do fly, typical of most upland game birds, they fly very fast, low to the ground and away from you which makes for an almost impossible target. But I got one yesterday morning, taking off.    1/5000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 100-400 @260mm, natural light This bird was acting as a sentry (also called a sentinel) for a small group of other Chukars nearby.  It’s observation perch of choice was a sign post that was high enough that it had to actually fly when it decided to leave.  I was too close to this bird for my 500mm lens so I quickly grabbed my 100-400 zoom lens and when it looked like it might be thinking of taking off I zoomed back far enough to give the Chukar enough room to fly into. I had plenty of light for a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the wings of even this buzz-saw flier (those relatively short wings on such a chunky bird really have to churn to get it airborne) and was lucky enough to catch the wings in a position I like.  A more appealing perch would have been nice but I’m pleased with the way most everything else turned out. Ron

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A Great Horned Owl And Old Wood

This adult Great Horned Owl was perched in one of the granary cutouts on my family farm in nw Montana. I’ve had many opportunities with them in such a setting because the owls have been there for years and there’s lots of old weathered granaries and barns there that they like to roost in.

This time I thought I’d go with a composition that brings the wood a little more into play.

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The Alula (bastard wing) Of A Kestrel In Flight

Many extinct and ancient relatives of modern birds had alulae, as do flies (insects of order diptera). I find it fascinating that evolutionary selection pressure has produced this structure in such diverse and relatively unrelated groups as birds and some flying insects. And that man has (once again) copied nature to solve a modern problem.

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Short-eared Owl With Prey, Coming At Me

I’m always happy when I can get decent images of an owl in flight.  If they’re carrying prey it’s a bonus.  And if the bird is flying toward me I often consider it icing on the cake – partly because those kinds of shots are so very often baited, decoyed, set up or called in.  As always for me, these were not. I’ve posted one of these shots before but I hoped it might be interesting for some to see a sequence of images as this adult male Short-eared Owl flew toward me with a vole for its mate before veering off to my right.    1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This first image shows less detail and image quality because the owl was further away as it began to approach me but I decided to include it for context in the sequence.  The lower background is sagebrush flats while the upper blues are Montana’s Centennial Mountains in shade.       1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Four frames later the owl was significantly closer and flew almost directly at me before veering off – a pattern it followed more than once.  I’d guess that it was his way of checking me out for any potential threat before delivering the vole.       1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in  Which he’s doing intently here.  Eye contact can’t be much…

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Killdeer Chick With An Extra Dose Of Personality

Well, yesterday may have been the first day of spring but so far I’m not impressed – it’s been dreary and wet and it’s supposed to be very cold through the weekend.  I’ll even have to turn the heat on in my de-winterized camping trailer to keep the plumbing from freezing,  Ugh… So I’ve been stuck in the house and was going through some older images when I came across this series of a very young Killdeer chick at Farmington Bay WMA.  It was in the grasses near a parking lot and it was just as curious about me and my pickup as I was about it.    1/800, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in I’d taken a few shots of this chick just after the sun came up but it was so buried in the grasses that the images weren’t very good but when I came back to the parking lot 51 minutes later it was in an area where the grasses weren’t quite as thick.   At first it just watched me and didn’t do much.   One of the parents was nearby but neither bird seemed nervous about my presence in my vehicle.       1/500, f/11, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in  And soon it walked closer to me to check me out.      1/500, f/11, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in  Then it decided to do some posing for…

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Male Northern Harrier – The Gray Ghost

One of my favorite subjects is the male Northern Harrier. Because juveniles of both sexes are similar to the adult female, to the untrained eye most harriers look like females which is one of the reasons that many folks believe that they rarely see males – thus the name “Gray Ghost” for the ”elusive” adult male.

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My First Western Meadowlark Of The Season

Ok, despite the fact that it’s turning colder again this week I’m now convinced that spring has arrived because two days ago I finally got close enough to photograph a singing Western Meadowlark – my first of the year.    1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light  I was sure the bird would fly off as I approached, just as all the others have this spring, but this one stuck.  I like the somewhat different head angle in this shot.       1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I probably have more trouble with framing this species than any other because their legs are always longer than I think they are when they’re buried in the perch like this and I typically don’t leave enough room for at least one of them.  This time I think I did.       1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light When the bird would break out in song it truly lifted my spirits, as it always does.  They’re just so enthusiastic about it and when you’re close the sound can go right through you – in a good way.  I’m always impressed by the size of their mouth which seems to be exaggerated some by that long beak. I suspect there are a few of my regular readers who are unfamiliar with the call of this songster (Elephant’s Child in Australia, for example) so I’ve provided a link to their song if you’d like to hear it (scroll down about half-way). These birds (and their…

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Promised Update On Mergansers Entangled In Fishing Line

Some of you may remember that on February 17th I posted about the problem of birds getting caught in discarded fishing line at Willow Pond, one of our urban fisheries here in Murray, Utah.  I had photographed some Common Mergansers that had fishing line entangled on their bodies and fish hooks stuck in their bills.   This merganser had lost a foot to fishing line.  Another had a fish-hook stuck in its bill and other ducks had line wrapped around their legs and wings. Here’s a link to that original post: https://featheredphotography.com/blog/2013/02/17/one-footed-merganser-in-a-hurry/#comment-21517 In comments, many of you were as disturbed as I was about the carelessness of anglers and the resulting suffering of birds and some suggested a variety of methods to help address the issue.  I chose to contact Tom Wharton, a long-time and highly respected columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, to see if he was interested in doing a story on the situation at Willow Pond.   When I sent him a link to the merganser post he responded almost immediately and asked if I would meet him at the pond and give him some background. So a couple of days later Mia and I met him at the pond and spent most of an hour with him reviewing the situation.  He was enthusiastic about writing a column on the subject and trying to help birds. That column was published three days ago but I’ve been on a camping/photo trip and couldn’t post about it until now.  But since many of you had asked me to update any developments…

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Chukar On A Snow-covered Rock Ledge

Sometimes a change of position of just a few inches can have a fairly dramatic affect on the overall “feel” of an image.  That was the case with this Antelope Island Chukar.    1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light  I found the bird on a rock ledge and slightly above me which gave an almost eye-level perspective that I like.  Occasionally it would call, as they’re very prone to do.       1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light  But then it began to walk a short distance to my right (I’m always surprised that the bottoms of their feet are yellow)…       1600, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light  which brought the snow-covered hillside in the background into play.  At first there was a mix of snow and blue sky back there…       2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light but then I deliberately raised my window a couple of inches (as usual I was shooting from my pickup) to take the blue sky out of the picture.  And the bird obliged me by calling once again. Most of the snow is finally gone from the island now.  Even the roads to the Frary Peak trailhead and White Rock Bay are open – they’ve been closed for months due to snow.  Hopefully that’s a sign that the curlews and Willets (and other spring birds) won’t be far behind.  Hope so – it’s been a long dry spell on the island. Ron

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