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I stumbled across this image last night and my Western Kingbird memories started whirling in my mind again. It was taken in June of last year as the kingbird took off from sagebrush on Antelope Island.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The previous June I spent some time with a mated pair of Western Kingbirds as they constructed their nest within less than 10′ of a road and parking lot\u00a0on the island – obviously the birds were acclimated to human activity to choose such a nesting site.<\/p>\n Typical of the species the female did all of the nest construction while the male “supervised”. Here he’s trying to balance on a sagebrush twig as he waits for his mate to return with more nesting material. He watched the entire process with great interest and spent much of his time chasing off other avian intruders.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n The female was tireless in her nest construction duties. Here she’s leaving the nest after delivering a twig.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n When the female would approach the nesting site with a twig\u00a0the male would often greet her with a pose like this. At least he appreciated all of the work she was doing…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Western Kingbirds are one of the relatively few bird species that have generally benefited from human activity. Their breeding range has expanded since the late 19th century and population increases appear to be due to erection of buildings, ornamental tree planting and clearing of dense forests.<\/p>\n But this nest was eventually\u00a0abandoned\u00a0so\u00a0if that\u00a0nesting failure was due to human activity it was ironic. The adjacent parking lot was at a trailhead so who knows what some thoughtless human on foot\u00a0(I never left my\u00a0vehicle while photographing them from a distance\u00a0with my super telephoto lens)\u00a0might have done if they spotted the obvious nest.<\/p>\n On the other hand the nest failure\u00a0may very well have been natural\u00a0as I’ve seen accipiters, harriers and ravens\u00a0harassing other nesting birds in the same general area.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note to fans of Terry Tempest Williams: Terry worked at the UMNH at the same time I did (we were and are dear\u00a0friends)\u00a0and she would sometimes accompany us on our field trips to Bear River MBR. In the summer of 1983 at the same time the Great Salt Lake flood was destroying the refuge her mother was dying of breast cancer. Those experiences, among others, formed the basis of her classic\u00a0book “Refuge – An Unnatural History of Family and Place”. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/western-kingbird-6205-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/4000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/western-kingbird-8204-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"western](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/western-kingbird-8101-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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