\u00a01\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D, CanonEF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nI\u00a0found this female Brewer’s Blackbird at sunup this morning on the causeway to Antelope Island.\u00a0 Her mate was perched on a post just a few feet away.\u00a0\u00a0 The two of them were performing what’s called the “Song-spread Display” for each other.\u00a0 This frequent and conspicuous display is part of the\u00a0preliminary stages of pair formation and it’s performed by both sexes.\u00a0 The male also performs the display to guard the\u00a0female from being approached by other males.\u00a0\u00a0At the time I took this photo there were three other males showing intense interest in\u00a0the female.<\/p>\n
This image and\u00a0trip to the island\u00a0were part of my therapy this morning.\u00a0\u00a0 I needed it.\u00a0 As I’m sure many of you know my blog was down for about 20 hours beginning\u00a0yesterday afternoon.\u00a0 It seems our server had a firmware malfunction.\u00a0 Problems like this were a common occurrence when we were\u00a0using Network Solutions (now there’s a misnomer of a name!) but since we’ve been using Bluehost issues like this have been much reduced.\u00a0 But this one was a doozy – 20 hours!\u00a0 Geez…<\/p>\n
So when I got up this morning and my blog and one of my email accounts still weren’t working I just had to get away for some bird photography and focus my mind (and my lens) on different things.\u00a0 Thankfully\u00a0the issue was resolved while I was out there so as soon as I got home I quickly\u00a0grabbed this image from today’s shots for your perusal.<\/p>\n
My apologies for\u00a0the blog hiccup!<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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I almost never see Brewer’s Blackbird images posted anywhere so today I thought I’d give the species its due.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n