![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/chukar-2791-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"chukar-2791-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\ninstead of yet another semi-tame Chukar on Antelope Island. Plus my first of year Swainson’s Hawks.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of the Chukars I’ve photographed over the years have been on Antelope Island where they’re acclimated to people and traffic and often easily approachable. I do see ‘wild’ Chukars occasionally in some of the remote areas of northern Utah I frequent but those birds tend to be incredibly spooky and camera shy.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 400, Canon R-5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n So early yesterday morning in a remote area of Box Elder County I was both surprised and excited when this Chukar behaved very differently. As I approached ‘him” he actually stayed on his rocky elevated perch and allowed me to take a few (very few) photos before jumping down and disappearing into the vegetation. He wasn’t particularly close but still… I find that kind of behavior almost unheard of in wild Chukars.<\/p>\n As a bonus his lichen-encrusted perch was natural and attractive, he was in flattering side light and he posed nicely for me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shooting with my full frame Canon R-5 I was able to get a perspective that showed most of the lichen-encrusted boulder the Chukar was on and more of its habitat, including the sagebrush in front of the boulder (this photo is uncropped). To get this perspective with my previous camera I’d have had to go through the hassle and inconvenience of removing my teleconverter. With the R-5’s 45 MP file size I still had plenty of detail to crop in for the first photo above.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yesterday was slow for bird photography but better for bird and critter sightings. I’ve heard a few calling Willets recently but yesterday was my first sighting of one this year (I got only distant photos). I saw Northern Harriers Sky Dancing again (no photos) and I spent a while photographing an adorable family of Yellow-bellied Marmots – their four pups were the youngest I’ve ever seen out of their den.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But I was most excited to see my first of year Swainson’s Hawks. I saw at least three of them but was only able to get a few photos of mediocre quality.<\/p>\n It was a good morning, despite the short supply of cooperative avian subjects.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" instead of yet another semi-tame Chukar on Antelope Island. Plus my first of year Swainson’s Hawks. (3 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/chukar-2793-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"chukar-2793-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/swainsons-hawk-3084-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"swainsons-hawk-3084-ron-dudley\\"")
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