![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/western-meadowlark-9982-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-meadowlark-9982-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI love a quality takeoff shot so I’ll put up with a less than ideal perch before the bird launches.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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 Yesterday morning on Antelope Island this Western Meadowlark allowed me a close approach but at first it was wary of me\u00a0so it\u00a0crouched slightly as if it was prepared to take off if it had to. The bird was facing slightly away from me so I\u00a0had little chance of getting\u00a0a pleasing takeoff shot if it chose to launch because butt shots generally have little appeal for me.<\/p>\n To add to my woes, this\u00a0time of year the dead vertical stems from last year often\u00a0make sagebrush\u00a0an\u00a0aesthetically challenged perch so I didn’t have high hopes of getting anything special from this bird. But soon the meadowlark relaxed a little and when it eventually…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n did a near-180\u00a0on the perch my chances of getting a quality takeoff shot or two\u00a0improved dramatically. I removed my teleconverter to give me more room in the frame for takoff and waited to see if I’d get lucky.<\/p>\n Birds larger than sparrow-sized\u00a0generally prefer to launch into the wind and I believe this one turned\u00a0specifically so it could take off into the breeze.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Which is exactly what it eventually\u00a0did. A bird taking off from sagebrush often\u00a0gives me the best of both worlds – a natural perch which I strongly prefer\u00a0and the bird is usually separated enough from all those dead stems that they don’t block our view of the bird or\u00a0dilute the aesthetics of the image.<\/p>\n I like this\u00a0photo quite a lot – there’s good light on the bird, the pose appeals to me, I have a clean background that isn’t homogenous\u00a0blue sky, the perch is a natural one and I had enough shutter speed to get the meadowlark plenty sharp enough.<\/p>\n And those\u00a0problematic dead stems are blocking very little of our view of the meadowlark.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love a quality takeoff shot so I’ll put up with a less than ideal perch before the bird launches.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/western-meadowlark-9999-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-meadowlark-9999-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/western-meadowlark-0002-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-meadowlark-0002-ron-dudley\\"")
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