![\"sage](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/sage-thrasher-0916-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI’ve been hoping to observe fledgling Sage Thrashers for some time now and yesterday I photographed a single bird. My success was partially the result of extreme frustration with the weather. We’ve had gloomy, cloudy morning skies for so long now that I’ve had a serious case of cabin fever so when I\u00a0once again woke up to dense cloud cover yesterday morning I decided to go shooting anyway, in spite of my best judgment.<\/p>\n
I knew that I’d have deplorable light for photography and I did. But my shutter finger needed scratching…<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 1600, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n For weeks I’ve known there was a Sage Thrasher nest in\u00a0this sagebrush next to the road on Antelope island because of the activity I’ve observed there from the adults (I can’t actually see the nest and never approach it of course). At first this youngster (I\u00a0guess it’s really past the “chick” stage)\u00a0was hopping around on the ground near the base of the sagebrush as it waited for a parent to deliver food but once in its impatience it landed on top of the bush and posed for a few moments before skulking around on the ground again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 1600, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Then one of the parents flew in with a juicy grasshopper for its offspring and landed with it on a nearby sagebrush. The adult was calling incessantly\u00a0to the\u00a0youngster with its beak almost completely\u00a0closed on the grasshopper as you see here – a nifty trick that always makes me think of ventriloquism. Then both birds flew further down the hill, presumably to complete the food\u00a0transfer.<\/p>\n As always I was delighted to see the young bird as a sign of nesting success (generally these birds lay 4-5 eggs in a clutch but I only saw one fledgling). Hopefully, next time I’ll have better light and there will be more young\u00a0thrashers in the vicinity of\u00a0this\u00a0nest and others.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For weeks I’ve known there was a Sage Thrasher nest in this sagebrush next to the road on Antelope island because of the activity I’ve observed there from the adults.<\/p>\n![\"sage](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/sage-thrasher-0942-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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