![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/western-scrub-jay-7356d-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAs\u00a0 common as they are in some areas I have very few quality images of Western Scrub Jays.\u00a0 They frequent scrub woodlands dominated by pinon pines or oaks in the west so it isn’t unusual\u00a0for them to\u00a0be found\u00a0in Utah neighborhoods\u00a0adjacent to the mountains where they sometimes\u00a0visit bird feeders.\u00a0 I prefer to\u00a0photograph them in their native habitat but they’re more shy there which partially explains my lack of images of the species.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this one two days ago high on the “back side” of the Wasatch Mountains\u00a0during a\u00a0drive over the Alpine Loop.\u00a0 The bird is perched on a clump of scrub oak\u00a0whose leaves are just beginning to get their fall colors so they’re a little bright.\u00a0 I like the look back at me from the jay, the light angle, the clear view of\u00a0that long\u00a0tail (which I somehow managed to get sharp even at f\/5.6) and the natural perch.<\/p>\n While I was processing the image I was struck by the\u00a0stubbiness of the wing tips.\u00a0 At first I wondered if it might be a juvenile bird whose flight feathers were still growing\u00a0even this late in the season or if they were an anomaly of some sort but when I compared it to an image of another adult\u00a0jay I took within seconds of this one the length of the primaries was the same.\u00a0 Then I checked out some field guides and found the same thing so I chalk up my initial\u00a0question to my inexperience with the species.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I also struggled with composition while I was cropping the image.\u00a0 I like the slightly better detail and less featureless blue sky provided by this vertical crop but including the entire oak clump in the image means that the bird is centered in the frame.\u00a0 In the end I couldn’t make up my mind and\u00a0decided to include both\u00a0versions and ask for feedback from my readers.<\/p>\n So if you have a preference I’d appreciate hearing about it.\u00a0 As usual, I need all the help with aesthetics I can get…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As common as they are in some areas I have very few quality images of Western Scrub Jays. They frequent scrub woodlands dominated by pinon pines or oaks in the west so it isn’t unusual for them to be found in Utah neighborhoods adjacent to the mountains where they sometimes visit bird feeders. I prefer to photograph them in their native habitat but they’re more shy there which partially explains my lack of images of the species.<\/p>\n![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/western-scrub-jay-7356c-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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