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<\/p>\nA trip into the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning provided me some photos of species I don’t often\u00a0get.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 This Gray Catbird wasn’t particularly close and there\u00a0were lots of twigs in the frame but I got a few clear shots while the bird was singing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 At this angle I could see the distinctive rufous undertail coverts of the species.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 He was singing almost the entire time I had my lens on him so I presume he was a male. Gray Catbirds have\u00a0considerable vocal versatility, partly because both sides of their syrinx (vocal organ) can operate independently so they can sing with two voices at the same time.<\/p>\n Interestingly, only about a dozen species of birds are known to recognize eggs of the parasitic cowbird in their nests and reject them and catbirds are one of them. That ability is learned and not innate.<\/p>\n Catbirds are extremely common in many parts of North America so I imagine many readers are ho-hum about them but in my part of Utah we’re right at the edge of their range\u00a0so I’ve had very few opportunities with them. In fact this was only the second time I’ve been able to get decent photos of the species so yes I was excited to get a few fairly good shots of this one.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 A few minutes later I spent some time with this Green-tailed Towhee on a\u00a0flowery perch in the beautiful mountain valley.\u00a0Again the bird was at some distance and I never got any completely clear shots of him but when he looked to my right it allowed\u00a0for a composition that could include more of that lovely perch. Those flowers don’t last long so this time I was happy with my timing.<\/p>\n I don’t often get chances with Green-tailed Towhees and they were my original “spark bird” way back in 1969 so I have a\u00a0huge soft spot for them.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note: Recently some readers have had the annoying problem of WordPress not auto-filling\u00a0your name and email address in the boxes while commenting. Theoretically that issue has now been fixed. If you continue to have the problem you may need to clear your cache.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A trip into the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning provided me some photos of species I don’t often get.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/gray-catbird-3629-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"gray-catbird-3629-ron-dudley\\"")
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