![\"western](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/western-meadowlark-9850-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYesterday was a glorious day on the island with about 6″ of fresh snow and wonderful light.\u00a0 It was simply delightful.\u00a0 The Western Meadowlarks seemed to be a little “stickier” than usual, perhaps because of all the snow.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0This\u00a0one was half buried in the snow but I liked all the convolutions in the snowy setting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/3200, f\/8, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0This meadowlark was\u00a0the most cooperative bird of the morning\u00a0as it posed for me for over 6 minutes on top of some rabbitbrush.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2500, f\/8, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0It never did turn around to show that bright yellow breast but it did give me some nice head turns to make up for it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Meadowlarks are well-known\u00a0for a behavior called “tail flashing”, something they often do during territorial disputes.\u00a0 During tail flashing the tail is nervously (and very quickly) snapped open and closed, better\u00a0revealing the white outer tail feathers.\u00a0 The bird\u00a0was cooperating so well that I made it my goal to try to catch the tail spread to show those white feathers, which turned out to be much\u00a0easier said than done.\u00a0 It happens so quickly that you just have to fire a burst and hope for the best.\u00a0 I took 208 shots of this bird (at least half of them were attempts to get the open tail) and only got the tail open a half-dozen times.\u00a0 And in most of those “spread- tailed” shots the meadowlark had its nictitating membrane closed or closing.\u00a0 I suspect that, for some reason, they close the membrane when they flick their tail.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday was a glorious day on the island with about 6″ of fresh snow and wonderful light.\u00a0 It was simply delightful.\u00a0 The Western Meadowlarks seemed to be a little “stickier” than usual, perhaps because of all the snow. \u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light \u00a0This\u00a0one was half buried in the snow but I liked all the convolutions in the snowy setting. \u00a01\/3200, f\/8, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light \u00a0This meadowlark was\u00a0the most cooperative bird of the morning\u00a0as it posed for me for over 6 minutes on top of some rabbitbrush. \u00a01\/2500, f\/8, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light \u00a0It never did turn around to show that bright yellow breast but it did give me some nice head turns to make up for it. \u00a01\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light Meadowlarks are well-known\u00a0for a behavior called “tail flashing”, something they often do during territorial disputes.\u00a0 During tail flashing the tail is nervously (and very quickly) snapped open and closed, better\u00a0revealing the white outer tail feathers.\u00a0 The bird\u00a0was cooperating so well that I made it my goal to try to catch the tail spread to show those white feathers, which turned out to be much\u00a0easier said than done.\u00a0 It happens so quickly that you just have to fire a burst and hope for the best.\u00a0 I took 208 shots of this bird (at least half of them were attempts to get the open tail) and only got…<\/p>\n![\"western](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/western-meadowlarkk-9766-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"western](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/western-meadowlark-9810-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"western](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/western-meadowlark-9635-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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