![\"mountain](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/mountain-chickadee-4444-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI was photographing sparrows on Antelope Island six days ago when this little cutie popped up right in front of me.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n And what a pleasant surprise it was.\u00a0 I’ve spent several thousand hours on the island over the years and this was the first Mountain Chickadee I’d ever seen there.\u00a0 The bird only gave me time for a few quick shots and I was so excited that I didn’t think to increase my\u00a0depth of field to get all of the perch as sharp as possible but if I’d have fiddled with my settings I might have missed getting images of the\u00a0chickadee altogether.\u00a0 In many of my other\u00a0shots the birds face was turned more toward me and its dark bill simply disappeared into that black bib.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Mountain Chickadee is\u00a0visually very similar to the more familiar Black-capped Chickadee except for its white eyebrow stripe, thinner and shorter bill and the lack of white on its wings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/100, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This is an older image of a Mountain Chickadee as it demonstrates “hang-gleaning”, a food gathering technique that the species is well-known for.\u00a0 They often hang upside down from conifer branches as they search for tiny insects, or alternately hang from cones in search of seeds in the fall.\u00a0 I think it’s an endearing behavior to watch.<\/p>\n The North American Breeding Bird Survey reports that the numbers of these saucy little birds have declined in excess of 1% each year since 1966, with a cumulative loss of 39%.\u00a0 Yet another bird species in trouble.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note:\u00a0 \u00a0Some of you have been having problems accessing this post or commenting on it.\u00a0 Hopefully that issue has now been addressed.\u00a0\u00a0 Very sorry for the inconvenience.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was photographing sparrows on Antelope Island six days ago when this little cutie popped up right in front of me.<\/p>\n![\"mountain](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/mountain-chickadee-9723-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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