{"id":135937,"date":"2023-05-17T06:17:48","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T12:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=135937"},"modified":"2023-05-17T07:55:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T13:55:11","slug":"beauty-birds-buddies-and-bugs-yesterday-on-antelope-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/17\/beauty-birds-buddies-and-bugs-yesterday-on-antelope-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Beauty, Birds, Buddies And Bugs Yesterday On Antelope Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early yesterday morning at dark o’clock I was getting mixed messages from weather forecasters about what the clouds situation on Antelope Island would be after the sun came up. Forecasts ranged from mostly cloudy to partly cloudy to sunny so I decided to throw the dice, leave home for the island in the dark and take my chances.<\/p>\n

What I saw when I got there was a mixed bag.<\/p>\n

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It was partly to mostly cloudy but it sure was a spectacular sunrise. This is looking east toward the Wasatch Mountains at 6:19 AM from a point immediately after I got on the island (where one of the metal bison sculptures is). Farmington Bay, in the middle foreground, has been essentially dry for several years so it sure is good to see water out there again.<\/p>\n

The downside from those clouds is that the light for bird photography was iffy at best for the entire 2 1\/2 hours I was on the island.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a Willet kind of morning. Literally everywhere I went I could hear Willets calling, either from elevated perches (mostly large rocks or sagebrush) or in flight. I found this one very soon after I got on the island, just when the filtered sunlight of dawn was beginning to reach the bird. “He’ wasn’t close but I took photos anyway.<\/p>\n

He was calling so enthusiastically I decided to shoot one of my patented, amateurish video clips to document his calling – potentially for use in a blog post. In the clip, if you listen carefully, you can hear some of the other Willets calling too. I was hoping that if he took off while I was videoing him he’d at least take off toward me so when he took off mostly away from me you can hear the intense frustration in my exhaled breath. Damn good thing I didn’t cuss.<\/p>\n

Here’s a link to the clip<\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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1\/640, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

The next Willet I found was calling from atop a sagebrush but ‘he’ had his back to me for the entire time I was with him. And even though I didn’t realize it at first, he wasn’t alone.<\/p>\n

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At some point while I had him in my viewfinder a Western Meadowlark landed about 18″ from him on the sagebrush. The Willet seemed to be ‘talking’ to the meadowlark so…<\/p>\n

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1\/250, f\/9, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

the meadowlark returned the favor by singing for the Willet, almost like the two of them had been buds forever. I never did have enough depth of field to get them both sharp.<\/p>\n

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1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 2500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

After the meadowlark flew off the Willet became a little unstable on his perch for a moment, so he had to use his wings to regain his balance. His instability revealed some of the bold patterns and colors of his wings that are always hidden when their wings are folded.<\/p>\n

In a recent blog post I mentioned those bold wing patterns of Willets but the photo in that post didn’t show them so several readers asked to see them. I’m including this photo in my effort to finally comply with their request. Better late than never?<\/p>\n

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1\/5000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m including this photo as evidence that I actually photographed some birds other than Willets yesterday. The male Red-winged Blackbird had just taken off from the sagebrush and I caught him in a flight posture I like.<\/p>\n

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I’ve made a big deal lately about the return of the midges to Great Salt Lake after an absence of several years because of our severe drought and the disappearing lake. Our very wet winter and early spring has resulted in a near-rebirth of the lake (so far) and a welcome resurgence of the midges.<\/p>\n

I saw my best evidence of the return of the midges yesterday when there were many distinct columns of hundreds of thousands of midges in flight along the causeway to the island. We call those columns “midge tornadoes” or “midge-nadoes”.<\/p>\n

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At least I think<\/em><\/span> I’m glad to have them back. I’d washed my pickup the day before so the grill was squeaky clean but this is what it looked like when I got home after driving through all those midges along the causeway. I know from past experience that all those crispy critters on my grill won’t come off easily so I have my work cut out for me.<\/p>\n

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My very large towing mirrors didn’t fare much better.<\/p>\n

But all things considered, including clouds and bugs, I’d say it was a good morning on the island.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Including a video clip. (9 photos)<\/p>\n

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