{"id":41198,"date":"2016-08-02T05:13:29","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T11:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=41198"},"modified":"2016-08-02T05:13:29","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T11:13:29","slug":"an-acrobatic-spring-loaded-virginia-warbler-a-bonus-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/02\/an-acrobatic-spring-loaded-virginia-warbler-a-bonus-image\/","title":{"rendered":"An Acrobatic, Spring-loaded Virginia Warbler (+ a bonus image)"},"content":{"rendered":"

First of all, apologies to my blog subscribers who received an email notification of this post last night. That link didn’t work and it was my fault. It’s my habit to work up post images and image techs in the evening and then compose the text the next morning just before publishing. During that process last night I accidentally hit “publish” instead of “save draft” so the incomplete post was published and the email notifications went out automatically. I had no choice but to delete the post so if you\u00a0tried to open the link you got an error message. I’ve always feared that would happen and last night it did. Sorry about that…<\/em><\/p>\n

The heat’s been dreadful in the valley for weeks now so yesterday morning we decided to go high into the nearby Wasatch Mountains for some relief. It was 20 degrees cooler up there\u00a0near the top of\u00a0Bountiful Peak\u00a0and the views were spectacular but birds were few and far between.<\/p>\n

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\"virginia<\/p>\n

1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n

I did get a distant view of this Virginia Warbler and since I seldom photograph this species I had to take a few shots. Birds are highly athletic almost by definition (flight requires it) and this little acrobat demonstrated that fact once again.<\/p>\n

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\"virginia<\/p>\n

1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n

This bird decided it wanted to change its perch and with\u00a0no warning at all it jumped almost straight up\u00a0into the air and landed on the vertical branch above it. But what was impressive was the fact that it didn’t use its wings – they were kept to its side for the entire ride.<\/p>\n

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\"virginia<\/p>\n

1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the next image in the burst (1\/8 sec later with my slower 7D) the bird is just landing on the branch.<\/p>\n

Events like this occur countless times per day with smaller birds and they’re so commonplace and quick that I think we often just take them for granted or hardly even notice them. But when you think about it this bird jumped almost straight up perhaps 3 times its standing height without the use of its wings. And it\u00a0nailed the landing on a vertical perch. For me to accomplish a similar feat I’d have to be able to jump up about 17′ and that just isn’t going to happen – not now, not ever.<\/p>\n

When you contemplate them some of these mundane events aren’t so mundane\u00a0at all.<\/p>\n

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\"antelope<\/p>\n

Approaching the summit of Bountiful Peak\u00a0I took another photo that I thought some readers might be interested in. As most of you know the recent wildfire on Antelope Island consumed half of the island’s 28,000 acres (the island is 15 miles long and about 5 miles wide at its widest point). I’ve posted images of the burn scar recently from up close but this\u00a0view from almost a mile above the valley floor puts the fire in perspective. As you can see the current severe drought and dropping lake levels have turned the island into a peninsula.<\/p>\n

This view is looking west with the red arrows marking the north and south ends of the island (north to the right). The fire mostly burned the south half of the island – you can see the fire scar from the left red arrow to the black arrow. We see part of Farmington Bay at left.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n