Mucus-drinking Cowbird
Before Europeans came to North America and cleared forests which modified the environment into the agricultural and suburban landscapes of today, the range of the Brown-headed Cowbird was limited to the short-grass plains where they followed the almost endless herds of American Bison as they fed on the insects stirred up by those wandering behemoths. Early settlers so strongly associated them with bison that they were called “Buffalo Birds”. Today that relationship still exists wherever limited numbers of bison can still be found. Antelope Island is one of those places. One of the many challenges facing the cowbird was obtaining enough moisture as it followed the bison herds over the hot, rolling plains. In late summer several years ago I photographed a cowbird behavior that illustrated one of the ways they solved that problem. I found this huge bull languishing in the broiling sun next to a boulder that it had been using as a scratching post. A group of Brown-headed Cowbirds were in the vicinity but at first I wasn’t paying much attention to them. Then this female (at frame bottom) flew in close… and began flying at the nostrils of the bull. Initially I was unsure about what she was doing but she did it repeatedly and eventually it became clear that she was… drinking the mucus-laden secretions from the bison’s nostrils. She would actually hover in place as she gobbled down the long, stringy strands of mucus. Not a pretty sight and perhaps a bit unsettling to our human sensibilities but what an incredibly adaptive behavior…
A Shrike Partially Consumes Its Own Pellet
This post is documentary only. The images are not aesthetically pleasing. Loggerhead Shrikes produce a pellet from an insect meal only 35.5 minutes (on average) after consumption. This is an amazingly fast turn-around time (Short-eared Owls average 8.5 hours before a pellet is produced from their rodent prey). When shrikes are consuming insects and spiders their pellets consist of the indigestible chitinous exoskeletons of those arthropods. I’ve seen and photographed Loggerhead Shrikes ejecting pellets many times but what I photographed on this August morning was new to me. Because of the cluttered setting I was mostly only watching this juvenile through my lens (not photographing it) when I could tell it was about to chuck up a pellet. Every time I’ve observed this behavior in the past the pellet was ejected quickly and cleanly and simply fell to the ground. But this bird had a surprise for me. It caught the pellet in the tip of its beak… and manipulated it there for some time. Then it very deliberately mashed up the pellet and appeared to be swallowing parts of it as other smaller pieces fell to the ground. My guess would be that about half of the pellet was consumed as the other half fell away, though I can’t be absolutely certain that any of it was actually eaten because my view of what was happening was not always a clear one. I wish I knew what was really going on here. This is the only time I’ve ever seen a bird (of any species) manipulate a pellet after…
Yellow-rumped Warbler
There’s no denying that songbirds tend to be short-shrifted on my blog. That wasn’t a conscious decision on my part but it’s sure the way things have turned out. This post is an initial effort to attempt rectify the situation. The pretty little Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most common warblers in North America so I thought this species was a good place to start. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light There are two sub-species of Yellow-rumped Warblers – Myrtle Warbler in eastern North America and Audubon’s Warbler of the western part of the continent. This is the Audubon’s subspecies, as identified by the yellow throat (white throat on Myrtle). Audubon’s and Myrtle were long considered to be separate species but when it was discovered that they hybridize in the Canadian Rockies they were combined into a single species. 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light This pose shows off that distinctive yellow rump. These birds are often affectionately called “butter-butt” for obvious reasons. These first two “bird on a stick” images are rather sterile but they give a good look at the bird. 1/640, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light They’re much more often found buried deeply “in habitat” as you see here, which can make for a more cluttered setting but often has a more natural appeal. The preferred habitat of the Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most ecologically generalized of all warblers, which partially accounts for its broad range. During the nonbreeding season…
American Kestrel Seeking Shelter From The Wind
I found this Male American Kestrel perched about a foot off the ground at the base of a large tree as it tried to escape the effects of a howling wind. It was mostly in deep shade but because the wind kept moving all the overhead branches, dappled light would occasionally fall on the bird. I thought the lighting and setting made for a few interesting images. I’ve posted one other shot of this bird in a different pose in the past. 1/500, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in My intent this morning was to post a single image of this bird but looking at the unprocessed versions I couldn’t make up my mind which of these two shots to use. So I processed them both but still couldn’t make a choice so I’m posting each of them. They’re processed minimally. I sharpening the bird and part of the perch in each photo but made no further adjustments, including exposure, saturation or contrast. 1/640, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I took this image only two clicks and seconds later than the previous shot but the slight change in body angle and head turn made subtle yet significant differences in light and richness of color. I adjusted my f/stop from 8 to 7.1 to give myself a little more shutter speed since I didn’t need quite as much depth of field to get the tail relatively sharp with it at this…
Attack Of The Shoveler
Most Northern Shovelers breed far north of my area (northern Utah) so I rarely get to see their intensely agonistic breeding behaviors but I’ve seen and photographed some of it in mid-June at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in sw Montana. Northern Shovelers are the most territorial of all dabbling ducks and the sexes remain paired longer than any other species. Both of these factors contribute to their aggressive natures. These three sequential shots don’t have great image quality but I do think they illustrate some interesting behavior. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’d been photographing Short-eared Owls from my pickup but was aware of some activity from shovelers in the marshy grasses nearby. A commotion got my attention just in time to see the male on the right fly in to attack another male on the water. The second bird saw the attack coming and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and rose from the water in a hasty retreat. I like the non-plussed look of the retreating bird. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In this second image of the series it’s not clear if the open bill of the incoming bird is due to aggressive vocalization or an attempt to bite the other male. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But in this last image I think it becomes obvious that the intent was to bite the retreating duck. Bird behaviors fascinate me. They’re often both interesting and entertaining but many of…
Great Horned Owl Framed By Tamarisk
Typically when I find a Great Horned Owl in a natural setting it’s so deeply buried in the tree or foliage that it can barely be seen. This is a deliberate behavior, at least in part to avoid mobbing birds of many species. Crows, for example, will invariably mob an exposed GHO, pursuing it from tree to tree and calling out to other crows to recruit them to join in. 1/800, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This owl, and one other, perched in the tamarisk for about a week but on most days they were virtually impossible to see unless you knew where to look. But on two cold, early mornings I found one of them in this spot where it was exposed to the warming rays of the sun. Its breast and belly feathers are wet, as are the drooping ear tufts. These birds sleep during much of the day but their slumber is light and alert as evidenced by their ear tuft (“horn”) movements in response to any slight sound, even with eyes closed – a behavior that’s interesting to observe if you’re lucky enough to be sufficiently close to a sleeping owl. Ron
Sandhill Crane Take-off Sequence
On a beautiful spring morning in May of 2011 we found a small group of Sandhill Cranes on a pond as we approached Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. We were some of the first folks on the access road and our careful approach made two of the birds a little nervous so they decided to vacate the area. I believe they were a mated pair. I got my pickup stopped and my lens aimed just after the first bird began to take off. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I believe this to be the slightly larger male who took off first. The unconventional composition is meant to highlight the water splashes behind the bird. If you’ve never heard the distinctive, penetrating and very loud bugling calls (also called “trumpeting”) of this species you’re really missing something. As is typical of these cranes, these two were calling during lift off and just looking at these images has that haunting sound bouncing around in my head. These cranes have an unusual throat anatomy that allows them to make such resonating sounds. The trachea extends and coils down the long neck and well into the sternum. This unique anatomy “expands the amplitude and alters the pitch of the voice by the addition of harmonies”. Until these birds are 9-10 months old they can produce only a series of trilled whistles and peeps but as they mature their tracheas elongate and coil intrasternally which allows them to develop the adult voice. If you’re curious about their call, check out both the “unison call” and…
Barn Owls On Unnatural Perches
It’s been a while since I’ve seen any Barn Owls out and about and I’m thinking they won’t be flying again during daytime until at least next winter so I decided to bid them adieu for the present with one last post for the season. I generally prefer my avian subjects on natural perches but Ingrid Tayler’s affection for birds on man-made perches in the urban landscape is beginning to instill in me a little more flexibility. Perhaps it isn’t too late for some new tricks from this old dog… 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited set up or called in At Farmington Bay WMA there are numerous signs posted directing hunters to where they can hunt and where they cannot and those signs are favorite resting spots for hunting raptors. When I come across an owl on one of these signs I’ll typically drive on by unless there’s a possibility for take-off shots but I made an exception for this one despite the less than ideal light. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited set up or called in Another favorite perch is this kestrel nesting box at the top of a hill. From this elevated vantage point the birds can hunt visually over a large area without expending the energy required for flight – a significant advantage in the depths of a long, cold winter when calories are at a premium. This owl looks like it might be wary of me and about to fly, but it isn’t. It was calmly…
Short-eared Owl Tattoo – A Work In Progress
Something a little different from me this time… In the past I’ve had a wide variety of requests for use of my images, including such disparate projects as prints, magazine and book publications, non-profit scientific and educational organizations (which I nearly always allow without a fee), fancy rubber stamps, uses by painters and other artists as subjects for their work, an image to be lacquered into the top of the communal dining table of a new fire station in Temecula, California and several of my Northern Harrier (a type of hawk) images have been used in the AV8B Harrier (jump-jet) pilot training software at the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, California. But a few weeks ago I got something new for me – a request to use one of my avian images for a very large, “photo – realistic” tattoo. Jenna, from New Zealand, contacted me and requested to use this image of a female Short-eared Owl in flight (with brood patch visible on the belly) as the basis for the tattoo. Her tattoo artist, Matt Jordan of Ship Shape Tattoo, Orewa, New Zealand, needed a high-resolution version of the image in order to get enough detail to make the very large tattoo photo-realistic. Even though this shot was taken in extremely low light and doesn’t have quite as much detail as most of my photos, in the end there was enough. Matt Jordan is apparently very talented and in high demand so it took Jenna several months to get the project started. It’s a long, drawn out and painful process. Jenna’s first session with Matt lasted for 6…
Black-billed Magpie Iridescence
Black-billed Magpies are loud, flashy and conspicuous black and white birds. And they’re a challenge to photograph well because of the exposure difficulty – getting detail in the blacks without “blowing out” the whites. I probably discard a higher proportion of shots of this species than I do any other. But if you work hard at it (with a little luck thrown into the mix) you can get some pretty spectacular shots that have detail in the blacks and whites and their showy iridescence. The actual plumage of these birds is truly black and white, with no other colors. But in the right light the feather structure (and other factors) on the tail and wings of these birds bends the light much like a prism and produces a variety of colors, predominantly blues and greens. When I’m photographing magpies, one of my goals is usually to capture some of that iridescence. 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 100-400 @ 400mm, natural light Three days ago I found this magpie perched on a snow-covered boulder on Antelope Island. As you can see the whites are well-exposed but there’s not a lot of detail in the blacks. This is the type of magpie image that I normally wouldn’t do much with except for purposes such as this post (my high shutter speeds were due to the snow and the fact that I was attempting take-off shots). 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 100-400 @ 400mm, natural light This is the same bird on the same perch but the image was taken…