![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/western-tanager-6040-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-tanager-6040-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nFive days ago, after spending the entire morning (6 hours) touring Montana’s Centennial Vally while looking for birds, I was starving by the time I returned to my campsite just before noon. But just before I pulled into my campsite I impulsively decided to visit a nearby row of trees (the same trees where I found the mating Chipping Sparrows I posted photos of recently) to see if I might find some interesting birds there.<\/p>\n
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1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n While I was creeping along the tree line, this Western Tanager flew right in front of my windshield and landed on a rustic fence directly in front of the trees and quite close to me. In my ravenous condition the bug in his bill looked pretty damn good to me. I thought the insect might be meant for nearby chicks but eventually he ate it himself.<\/p>\n That time of day the light was a little harsh and with the sun so high in the sky, most of my photos didn’t have a catch light in his eye. But this one did, I like the mottled light in the background trees and the pealing bark on the perch appeals to me.\u00a0And since I don’t have opportunities with tanagers very often, this is the photo I chose to post today.<\/p>\n About five minutes after this photo was taken I was gobbling down my own lunch.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This photo was actually taken in Idaho, not Montana. But just barely.<\/p>\n