<\/p>\n
The flight posture that many (including yours truly) find so desirable includes the following features:<\/p>\n
- \n
- A perfectly vertical orientation of the bird’s body while it’s flying laterally at approximately a 90\u00b0 angle to the viewer.<\/li>\n
- The tail, both wings and both alulae must be fully flared.<\/li>\n
- A full view of the face with a catch light in the eye.<\/li>\n
- The bird must be calling in flight with its bill open while in this posture.<\/li>\n
- The bird must be sharp, in good light and completely or mostly unobstructed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
That’s a very tall order and if any of the above features are missing the image doesn’t count. I’d come close several times but never a cigar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/sage-thrasher-2921-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n1\/5000, f\/6.3, 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
My single success occurred five years ago this month during a five day camping trip to Wayne County, Utah. This presumed male Sage Thrasher had been singing while perched on sage (how appropriate) but he wasn’t particularly close to me so my best hope was for takeoff or flight shots so his wings would fill more of the frame.<\/p>\n
In my first shot after takeoff he was in a pretty typical flight pose but 1\/10th of a second later in my next shot in the burst he had twisted into my most desirable flight posture and my shutter happened to fire at that exact moment. And he was still far enough from the left edge of the frame that I didn’t have to add canvas for composition if I cropped vertically.<\/p>\n
I was predictably delighted to get the shot.<\/p>\n
Some bird photographers capture this flight posture fairly regularly but they typically use elaborate setups to do it, including but not limited to multiple artificial perches, strategically placed bait (food), flash, artificial backgrounds and other sneaky strategies that they rarely if ever disclose to the viewer.<\/p>\n
So I was tickled pink to get this shot au naturel<\/em>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/sage-thrasher-2921-canvas-added-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"sage-thrasher-2921-canvas-added-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nIf you prefer here’s a horizontal crop of the same photo but I had to add canvas on the left to achieve this composition.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/red-rock-sunrise-5223b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-rock-sunrise-5223b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThis was our view at dawn out my camping trailer window from one of our dispersed camping spots on that trip.<\/p>\n
It was almost hard to pull myself away to go look for birds that morning.<\/p>\n
Ron.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I thought I might never capture this flight posture in a songbird during my entire career as a bird photographer. For me it’s only happened a single time and it very likely won’t happen again.<\/p>\n