{"id":136199,"date":"2023-05-21T05:41:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T11:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=136199"},"modified":"2023-05-21T06:02:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-21T12:02:14","slug":"some-different-strategies-for-documenting-mockingbird-flight-displays-a-type-of-courtship-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/21\/some-different-strategies-for-documenting-mockingbird-flight-displays-a-type-of-courtship-display\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Different Strategies For Documenting Mockingbird Flight Displays (a type of courtship display)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve posted photos before of Northern Mockingbirds performing their flight displays during breeding season but I’ve found it to be virtually impossible to photograph the display from beginning to end. When I’m reasonably close to them their nearly vertical flight and subsequent return to the same perch is too fast, too high and their flight path too unpredictable for me to keep them in frame and in focus for the entire performance.<\/p>\n

It’s possible to do when I’m far away but then my photos show little detail.<\/p>\n

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Here’s an example of my frustration, photographed two days ago on Antelope Island. The male mockingbird was perched on another poopy pavilion and displaying from there.<\/p>\n

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I found it to be relatively easy to get one photo of him in vertical flight immediately after takeoff but after that he was just too fast and unpredictable for me to keep him in frame and in focus. And getting them back in frame before they land on the same perch again is even harder.<\/p>\n

As a result, I don’t think my readers (unless you’ve witnessed these performances personally) have any idea how fast the flight display is. Or how high they fly before returning to the same perch.<\/p>\n

So two days ago on Antelope Island I tried a different tack. A couple of them, actually.<\/p>\n

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This time I was at about the right distance to keep him in frame for longer, especially if I rotated my camera 90\u00b0 and shot vertically (which I did).<\/p>\n

Shooting vertically makes it even more difficult (for me it’s impossible) to follow a moving subject so this time I didn’t try to follow him with my lens at all. I just started out with him at the bottom of the frame, initiated my burst when he took off and hoped I’d have enough room in the vertical frame to keep him ‘in the picture’ for multiple shots. I knew I couldn’t document his entire performance but this technique gave me a better chance to document more of it.<\/p>\n

The other advantage of this technique is that it keeps the perch in the frame through multiple shots, so the viewer gets at least some idea of how high he flies and at what angle.<\/p>\n

Following are my results from this attempt.<\/p>\n

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Liftoff. The blue\/tan border in the background isn’t the horizon. It’s the interface between Great Salt Lake and the beach, which is why it isn’t level.<\/p>\n

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His flight path was very nearly vertical.<\/p>\n

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Keeping the perch in frame is the best way for the viewer to gauge his elevation and even his speed (I’m shooting at 12 frames\/second).<\/p>\n

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Usually they sing for the entire performance but this guy was a late starter.<\/p>\n

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This is the last shot I got that kept any of him in frame. As you can tell, he’s still flying vertically. I’d estimate that he flew about twice as high as this before rolling over and parachuting back down to his original perch. I only kept all or part of him in frame for five shots but that’s a lot better than the one or two I’d have been able to get if I’d been using my usual technique.<\/p>\n

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But I still don’t think readers have a feeling for how long the entire performance takes. So, on the same morning, I tried a different technique using video.<\/p>\n

I was too close to the bird to get multiple still photos of him in flight so I decided to video him taking off and leaving the frame and then keep his perch in frame until he returned to it. That video would give readers a precise feeling for the speed of his takeoff, the speed of his landing and the amount of time the entire performance took.<\/p>\n

Without further ado, here’s the video.<\/p>\n

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