Tag: vesper sparrow
Vesper Sparrow Perched And Taking Off From Sagebrush
Vesper Sparrow On Tintic Quartzite
LBJ’s (little brown jobs) don’t get enough attention from bird photographers, including me on Feathered Photography, so this post is part of my effort to rectify the situation.
Bathing Vesper Sparrow – My Small (and accidental) Contribution To A Body Of Knowledge
This post is an update on an event and a process that began when I photographed this Vesper Sparrow as it bathed in a small Montana spring earlier this fall.
Vesper Sparrow
This morning I decided to feature another common and underappreciated species, the Vesper Sparrow. Friend and regular reader “Elephant’s Child” often refers to small, less colorful species as LBJs – “little brown jobs”. She appreciates the LBJs as much as their more colorful cousins and I give lip service to the fact that I do too but there’s no question that they get less attention on my blog than they deserve. This post is an attempt to partially remedy that situation.
Reminiscing About My Last Montana Camping Trip
My plan this morning was to make a simple, single image post but with a snowstorm predicted for today I began to reminisce about my last Montana camping venture and decided to take a trip down memory lane with this post. I hoped to make one last visit to Montana before winter set in but I’ve now faced the grim reality that it just isn’t going to happen. These images were all taken in mid-September in and near the Centennial Valley.
Birds From Our Recent Trip To Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
I spent most of last week at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Montana. Regular readers of this blog know that it’s’ one of my favorite places on earth. On this trip we didn’t have as much luck with raptors as we usually do at Red Rock but we still had a nice variety of birds, mostly good weather and we experienced some breathtaking scenery and blessed solitude. Overall, a wonderful experience. 1/3200, f.6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Mountain Bluebirds are common this time of year so I’ll begin with a few of them. The blues of the males are very intense and hard for the photographer to resist. It’s difficult to catch them on a natural perch but most of the fence posts in the area are old and rustic which I like. 1/2000, f.7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’m pretty sure this male was attempting to expel a pellet (rather than yawning) although it didn’t succeed before it flew off. 1/3200, f.7.1, ISO 800, 500 f/4 The female Mountain Bluebirds have less dramatic colors and their beauty is more subtle. I caught this one hovering in front of her nest. It’s been a traumatic spring for these bluebirds. On Memorial Day a big storm dumped 15″ of snow resulting in an 85% mortality of bluebird chicks at the refuge. They’re now trying again and have renested. 1/1600, f.6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Another male in the middle of a shake. I just liked the ruffled feathers combined…
Critters Among the Sunflowers of Antelope Island
Antelope Island is ablaze with color this fall, provided by the common sunflower Helianthus annus. The sunflower display is really quite spectacular this year – the most prolific I’ve ever seen it. I suspect it’s because of the very wet spring we’ve had. The sunflowers can provide a very pleasing setting for wildlife photography, whether the flowers are in focus along with your subject or out of focus to show off some pleasing and unusual color in the background bokeh. Canon 40D @ 72mm, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 320, EV +0.33 It’s unusual for me to get so close to a pronghorn that I don’t have to use a telephoto lens but these bucks are in rut right now and they’re so intent on herding their harem of females that they’re not nearly so wary of people and vehicles. So I quickly pulled out my old 40D and shot this handsome fella at only 72mm while he was right next to my pickup and staring intently at his ladies close by. This allowed me to keep many of the sunflowers relatively sharp and gave a different “feel” to the image than I usually get with my big glass. Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 640, EV + 0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In contrast to the previous image, this Vesper Sparrow was shot with my 500mm and 1.4 teleconverter (1120mm with the crop factor of the 7D) at f/5.6 which gave me very little depth of field – just enough to get the sparrow sharp but the sunflowers in the background…
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Vesper Sparrow Perched And Taking Off From Sagebrush
Vesper Sparrow On Tintic Quartzite
LBJ’s (little brown jobs) don’t get enough attention from bird photographers, including me on Feathered Photography, so this post is part of my effort to rectify the situation.
Bathing Vesper Sparrow – My Small (and accidental) Contribution To A Body Of Knowledge
This post is an update on an event and a process that began when I photographed this Vesper Sparrow as it bathed in a small Montana spring earlier this fall.
Vesper Sparrow
This morning I decided to feature another common and underappreciated species, the Vesper Sparrow. Friend and regular reader “Elephant’s Child” often refers to small, less colorful species as LBJs – “little brown jobs”. She appreciates the LBJs as much as their more colorful cousins and I give lip service to the fact that I do too but there’s no question that they get less attention on my blog than they deserve. This post is an attempt to partially remedy that situation.
Reminiscing About My Last Montana Camping Trip
My plan this morning was to make a simple, single image post but with a snowstorm predicted for today I began to reminisce about my last Montana camping venture and decided to take a trip down memory lane with this post. I hoped to make one last visit to Montana before winter set in but I’ve now faced the grim reality that it just isn’t going to happen. These images were all taken in mid-September in and near the Centennial Valley.
Birds From Our Recent Trip To Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
I spent most of last week at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Montana. Regular readers of this blog know that it’s’ one of my favorite places on earth. On this trip we didn’t have as much luck with raptors as we usually do at Red Rock but we still had a nice variety of birds, mostly good weather and we experienced some breathtaking scenery and blessed solitude. Overall, a wonderful experience. 1/3200, f.6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Mountain Bluebirds are common this time of year so I’ll begin with a few of them. The blues of the males are very intense and hard for the photographer to resist. It’s difficult to catch them on a natural perch but most of the fence posts in the area are old and rustic which I like. 1/2000, f.7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’m pretty sure this male was attempting to expel a pellet (rather than yawning) although it didn’t succeed before it flew off. 1/3200, f.7.1, ISO 800, 500 f/4 The female Mountain Bluebirds have less dramatic colors and their beauty is more subtle. I caught this one hovering in front of her nest. It’s been a traumatic spring for these bluebirds. On Memorial Day a big storm dumped 15″ of snow resulting in an 85% mortality of bluebird chicks at the refuge. They’re now trying again and have renested. 1/1600, f.6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Another male in the middle of a shake. I just liked the ruffled feathers combined…
Critters Among the Sunflowers of Antelope Island
Antelope Island is ablaze with color this fall, provided by the common sunflower Helianthus annus. The sunflower display is really quite spectacular this year – the most prolific I’ve ever seen it. I suspect it’s because of the very wet spring we’ve had. The sunflowers can provide a very pleasing setting for wildlife photography, whether the flowers are in focus along with your subject or out of focus to show off some pleasing and unusual color in the background bokeh. Canon 40D @ 72mm, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 320, EV +0.33 It’s unusual for me to get so close to a pronghorn that I don’t have to use a telephoto lens but these bucks are in rut right now and they’re so intent on herding their harem of females that they’re not nearly so wary of people and vehicles. So I quickly pulled out my old 40D and shot this handsome fella at only 72mm while he was right next to my pickup and staring intently at his ladies close by. This allowed me to keep many of the sunflowers relatively sharp and gave a different “feel” to the image than I usually get with my big glass. Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 640, EV + 0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In contrast to the previous image, this Vesper Sparrow was shot with my 500mm and 1.4 teleconverter (1120mm with the crop factor of the 7D) at f/5.6 which gave me very little depth of field – just enough to get the sparrow sharp but the sunflowers in the background…