![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/red-breasted-nuthatch-1190-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-breasted-nuthatch-1190-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nSometimes the perch is almost as interesting as the bird.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, 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 A Red-breasted Nuthatch hanging from a Douglas-fir cone five days ago in the Stansbury Mountains. It’s a frustrating place to photograph birds because I can’t maneuver my pickup to get anything but strong and contrasty\u00a0sidelight. And for some reason these obstinate birds always seem to have their brighter ventral\u00a0surface facing the sun and their darker dorsal side in shade which aggravates the problem.\u00a0So I had to fiddle-fart around with\u00a0this image more than I like\u00a0during processing in order to make it look as good as it does.<\/p>\n This bird and others were caching the seeds for use in winter and sometimes they were caching them in the same tree that was bearing the cone the seed came from. But this isn’t a seed in its bill – it’s part of the bract that they apparently have to remove first\u00a0to get at the seed. Usually they would drop the bract or fling it to one side and then go after the seed still in the cone\u00a0but occasionally they flew off with the bract in their bill.<\/p>\n I find myself enjoying the good look at the cone almost as much as I do the bird. Douglas-firs aren’t true firs and unlike their namesakes they have conspicuous 3-lobed bracts or “rat tails” protruding beyond each cone scale, the middle lobe being pointed and the outer\u00a0two flat. The bracts give these cones a unique look that I enjoy seeing up close like this, especially in association with such a handsome little bird using the cone as a\u00a0food source.<\/p>\n I do wish the nuthatch had been in better light though.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n