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<\/p>\nWeight saving strategies of birds for flight also serve them well whenever they feel the need to simply jump. And most can jump very\u00a0well.<\/p>\n
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1\/6400, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this male (I believe)\u00a0Red-naped Sapsucker about six weeks ago in Idaho’s Targhee National Forest. When he looked up the tree trunk like this I didn’t know if\u00a0he was going to fly or jump or what, but my instincts told me to pan upwards for whatever might happen so that’s what I did.<\/p>\n These three images in a burst are sequential and in the next shot I was lucky enough to…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/6400, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n catch the bird in mid-air as\u00a0he jumped straight up the trunk without ever opening\u00a0his wings.\u00a0For whatever reason he had for going there\u00a0his intention was to use his claws to\u00a0grab onto the bump in the circular swollen ridge\u00a0on the tree directly in front of his\u00a0neck. Since the tree was leaning toward him he needed something to grab onto.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/6400, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n And he succeeded. But what impressed me was his jumping ability. He had to jump straight up for roughly the distance he is tall and then grab onto the bulge as he angled his body backwards to match the angle of the tree. And he did it without using his wings. That would be like me (even as a teenager) jumping straight up almost six feet – ain’t gonna happen.<\/p>\n Birds have evolved many interesting\u00a0weight-saving devices for flight that also aid them in jumping.\u00a0They include:<\/p>\n To put some perspective on\u00a0it this\u00a08.5″ sapsucker weighs only 1.8 oz. Mammals of a similar size weigh\u00a0significantly more.<\/p>\n And it goes without saying that all of these adaptations for flight\u00a0also\u00a0make many birds good jumpers. And extremely quick – much to the dismay of this bird photographer who ends up with so many “air shots”.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – My incredibly fast shutter speed resulted because the bird suddenly moved to where it had bright blue sky for background and I shoot in aperture priority.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Weight saving strategies of birds for flight also serve them well whenever they feel the need to simply jump. And most can jump very well.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/red-naped-sapsucker-5601-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-naped-sapsucker-5601-ron-dudley\\"")
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