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- These photos were taken in fairly low light and I wanted plenty of shutter speed for the action so I’m shooting at unusually high ISO’s. The face of the bird is slightly soft in some of the later images because my active focus points kept grabbing onto parts of the plants in front of the bird.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-5857-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-5857-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
I photographed the female Red-winged Blackbird 13 days ago on Antelope Island. Here she’s apparently surveying the masses of flower heads around her and trying to decide which ones might still contain seeds (many of them have already been picked clean of seeds by other birds).<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-5871-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-5871-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
First she had to find a stable perch which wasn’t easy.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-5894-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-5894-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
Once the flower stalk stopped waving and bouncing around she found some stability but…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-5905-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-5905-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
whenever she moved around she lost her balance.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-5921-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-5921-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
She managed to successfully turn on the perch and here she’s apparently deciding which flower cluster to go after. Notice that the two clusters on the left have already been picked clean of seeds (as indicated by their lighter color) but the darker cluster at center bottom of the image is still loaded with seeds. That cluster of seeds became her goal.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-5926-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-5926-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
But reaching it without falling off wasn’t easy. She reached down and tried to grab the stalk that flower cluster was on so she could pull it up toward her. But when that failed…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-5940-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-5940-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n
she once again turned on the perch…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/red-winged-blackbird-5946-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-5946-ron-dudley\\"")
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