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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 Two days ago I photographed several Wilson’s Warblers as they were gleaning insects on fragrant sumac (so named because its leaves and bark smell like citrus). This\u00a0likely male wasn’t interested in the berries even though they were abundant and this species occasionally eats them. When the bird leaned forward a bit I thought it might be about to take off so in anticipation\u00a0I fired off a burst but he had other things on his mind.<\/p>\n In this case he’d apparently already\u00a0spotted the insect at upper left flying toward him. When I cropped heavily on the “bug” in another photo\u00a0it was obviously a fly of some sort but I don’t know the species. The only distinguishing characteristic I could make out was its eye color – they were the same color as the sumac berries.<\/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 He made no attempt to take off and catch the insect in flight.\u00a0Instead he waited for the\u00a0fly to come to him. And it did.<\/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 He snagged\u00a0it right out of the air with that tiny bill\u00a0but the momentum of the grabbing motion…<\/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 caused him to\u00a0lose his balance so he had to use his right wing to regain it. Sadly I didn’t get any interesting shots of him swallowing the insect.<\/p>\n I didn’t even know this had happened until I got home and looked at my photos on the big screen. When my camera\u00a0shutter is flapping in front of my eye through the viewfinder I miss some things that I otherwise might\u00a0see. But another reason I missed\u00a0noticing\u00a0is because it happened so fast. These four shots are sequential in a burst without any skips and the elapsed time was only\u00a0four tenths of a second.<\/p>\n That’s one of the things I love about bird photography – it allows me to pick up nuances of behavior that I’d otherwise surely miss and then at my leisure\u00a0I can study them in my photos\u00a0for more details. Pretty neat.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – On an unrelated note I keep forgetting to mention something that may be of interest to some readers. Since 3 days ago I’ve regularly\u00a0been hearing bull\u00a0elk bugling in the mountains. Maybe fall is almost here, finally. I’m sick of summer heat and smoke and I don’t think I’d thrive if I lived in\u00a0a region without distinct seasons.<\/em><\/p>\n Ha, listen to me. In a couple of months I’ll probably be bitching about having to shovel snow…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I thought this bird pulled off a pretty nifty trick but it happened so fast I didn’t even know it had occurred until I arrived home and looked at my photos.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/wilsons-warbler-1663-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"wilsons-warbler-1663-ron-dudley\\"")
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