{"id":154472,"date":"2024-02-25T06:02:42","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T13:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=154472"},"modified":"2024-02-25T07:54:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-25T14:54:12","slug":"chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/","title":{"rendered":"Chukars Were Plentiful In The West Desert Yesterday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>And some of them even came out to play.<\/p>\n<p>It takes me a long time to get to my destination in the west desert and I always try to get there before sunrise, so I do a lot of driving in the dark. But the drive can be far more interesting when I can watch…<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"154479\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/moon-1-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/moon-1-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"803,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"SM-S901U","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1708783051","copyright":"","focal_length":"5.4","iso":"80","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"moon 1 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/moon-1-ron-dudley-268x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/moon-1-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-154479 size-full\" title=\"moon-1-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/moon-1-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"803\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/moon-1-ron-dudley.jpg 803w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/moon-1-ron-dudley-268x300.jpg 268w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/moon-1-ron-dudley-768x861.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/moon-1-ron-dudley-134x150.jpg 134w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>the nearly full moon slowly sinking to the horizon directly in front of me. A cell phone photo doesn’t do it justice. It really was quite beautiful. Even mesmerizing.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, that’s dust on my dashboard. A lot of it. When you spend as much time driving on dirt roads as I do, dust is part of the equation. And when you have a bad back it doesn’t get cleaned very often.<\/p>\n<p>I try to think of dust as camouflage. Admittedly, it’s a stretch.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"154493\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS R5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1708786262","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"1000","shutter_speed":"0.00025","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"chukar 6451b ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-154493 size-full\" title=\"chukar-6451b-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451b-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When I finally arrived at my destination I was pleasantly surprised by how many Chukars were out and about. I saw dozens and heard many more. At times it sounded like Antelope Island in the ‘old days’.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the Chukars on the island, these birds are truly wild so they’re much harder to approach. But like Chukars do in the spring and early summer, many of these birds were calling from atop large rocks on the steep mountainsides so they were ‘stickier’ than they are at other times of the year.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"154473\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS R5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1708786262","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"1000","shutter_speed":"0.00025","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"chukar 6451 nearly full frame ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-154473 size-full\" title=\"chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-nearly-full-frame-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here’s a much looser crop of the same photo that allows the viewer to get a better sense of the natural habitat and allowed me to place the bird in the frame according to the ‘rule of thirds’.<\/p>\n<p>This bird was calling at\/toward another Chukar that was about 50′ away. They were calling to each other alternately, which strongly reminded me of dueling banjos (Chukars sound a lot like chickens so it was more like dueling chickens). The second Chukar wasn’t calling from such a prominent location so it took me almost five minutes to locate that bird.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"154475\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS R5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1708786307","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"1000","shutter_speed":"0.0003125","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"chukar 6481 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-154475 size-full\" title=\"chukar-6481-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6481-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I finally spotted him just before he jumped off the rock he’d been calling from and…<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"154476\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS R5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1708786307","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"1000","shutter_speed":"0.0003125","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"chukar 6482 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-154476 size-full\" title=\"chukar-6482-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6482-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>landed in the vegetation just below.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"154477\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS R5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1708786315","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"1000","shutter_speed":"0.0008","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"chukar 6487 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-154477 size-full\" title=\"chukar-6487-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6487-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As Chukars are prone to do, he started running so fast down the steep mountainside I had little chance to keep him in my viewfinder and almost no chance to get him sharp. After this shot, all of my photos of him running were soft.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"154478\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS R5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1708787085","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"800","shutter_speed":"0.00025","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"chukar 6588 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-154478 size-full\" title=\"chukar-6588-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6588-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Thirteen minutes later I found another Chukar calling from atop another rocky peak but this bird had its back to me. At least in this shot we can see the face of the bird. Almost immediately after this photo was taken he hopped off the rock and disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>I saw and heard many dozens of Chukars yesterday, even in habitats that aren’t typical for them. I’m thinking that it’s going to be a very good year for Chukars, at least in this area.<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And some of them even came out to play. (7 photos)<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/25\/chukars-were-plentiful-in-the-west-desert-yesterday\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[334,352],"tags":[26,7362,7364,7363,4484,311,533],"class_list":["post-154472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birds","category-chukars","tag-alectoris-chukar","tag-chukar-calling","tag-dueling-banjos","tag-full-moon-setting","tag-rule-of-thirds","tag-utah-2","tag-west-desert"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/chukar-6451-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-Ebu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154472"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154523,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154472\/revisions\/154523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}