![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/chukar-7838-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"chukar-7838-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nAnother photo I’d forgotten even existed.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I rediscovered this photo last night completely by accident and immediately changed my plans for today’s post. It was taken on Antelope Island early in the morning with the Great Salt Lake in the upper background and mudflats below. The relative light intensity on bird and background rendered the lake a very dark blue and turned the normally unappealing hues of the mudflats into attractive, warm earth colors. I think the background all by its lonesome is pretty neat.<\/p>\n Throw in the colorful and beautifully side lit bird on a natural perch and it becomes one of my favorite Chukar photos of all time. And to think I’d forgotten I had it.<\/p>\n Chukars typically call enthusiastically with their beaks open wide but at times they also make a cute little “chortling” sound that only requires them to open their beaks slightly and that’s what this bird was doing. I can hear that sound in my head when I look at the photo. For me the little poop pile near the bird’s left foot does nothing to ruin the aesthetics of the image – it only adds to its genuineness.<\/p>\n My only regret about the photo is that I didn’t leave enough room in the frame on the right to allow for my preferred 5×7 compositional aspect ratio. I was close to the bird so I didn’t have much wiggle room in the frame and at the time I was more concerned about not clipping any body parts than I was about composition. I could easily add canvas on the right but that’s something I don’t like to do. The afore mentioned “genuineness” is important to me.<\/p>\n The photo is even more meaningful to me personally because Chukars on the island have become scarce to the point that I rarely see them anymore. So I’m unlikely to ever have an opportunity like this one again.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another photo I’d forgotten even existed.<\/p>\n