![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/willow-flycatcher-4988-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"willow-flycatcher-4988-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nIncluding one with an atypical bill.<\/p>\n
A trip to the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning didn’t produce any spectacular images but I got some photos I like well enough and spending time with birds and other critters in a beautiful green setting always beats the hell out of staying home and being forced to confront the realities of life in the city. Especially these days.<\/p>\n
Today’s post is sort of a ‘trip report’.<\/p>\n
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This Willow Flycatcher was heard more than seen. I kept hearing him singing behind some willows but he just wouldn’t come out and play. He tantalized me for so long I eventually backed my pickup up to avoid the willows and there he was, singing on top of a high perch.<\/p>\n
Like many birds most of his singing was done while he was facing straight forward (rather than with his head turned left or right) so I never managed to get an ideal singing pose. But I kinda like this one because it looks like he’s reaching toward or singing to blue sky at the top of the frame, at least to me.<\/p>\n
I also had an aggravating stretch of time with this bird that produced soft images for some unknown reason. Murphy again.<\/p>\n
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A few of the Yellow Warblers in the area came in closer than this one did but in part because of their bright color I think this species can produce unusually nice images with the bird small in the frame.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mountain-chickadee-5275-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"mountain-chickadee-5275-ron-dudley\\"")
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A Mountain Chickadee ‘after the bath’.<\/p>\n
There’s a seep almost directly below the chickadee that birds of a variety of species like to bathe in but it’s mostly hidden by vegetation so I can’t get photos of them actually bathing. My best chance is to get them sopping wet and preening afterwards.<\/p>\n
This bird looks pretty disheveled and it…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mountain-chickadee-5310-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"mountain-chickadee-5310-ron-dudley\\"")
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didn’t look any better after it turned on the perch. That unfortunate curved brown twig to the left ruined many of my photos of this bird but these photos aren’t about ‘pretty’ anyway.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mule-deer-5218-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"mule-deer-5218-ron-dudley\\"")
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A brief transformation from feathers to fur.<\/p>\n
As I travel the mountains looking for birds it’s always a pleasant experience to encounter other wildlife in such a natural and attractive setting. This Mule Deer was grazing\/browsing near a mountain stream and looked up at me briefly. I just think it’s a peaceful, calming photo.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/belted-kingfisher-4782-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-4782-ron-dudley.\\"")
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While I was photographing other birds this young female Belted Kingfisher still wet from her last dive flew in for some fishing from a branch overhanging the stream. She was side lit so the lighting is a little contrasty but I’ll always<\/em> point my lens at a close kingfisher.<\/p>\n Do you notice anything unusual about her?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Her lower mandible is atypically short relative to her upper mandible. I didn’t notice it in the field but I sure did when I looked at my photos on my computer at home.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here we see the more typical relative lengths of Belted Kingfisher mandibles on a different female.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So that’s my trip report – nothing particularly special but some interesting images nonetheless. On mornings like yesterday I try to remember – if all images were special they wouldn’t be special, would they.<\/p>\n How’s that for some convoluted logic…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A note about mandibles:<\/em><\/p>\n In most vertebrates the upper jaw is called the maxilla and the lower jaw is called the mandible but in birds it’s very often (though not always) different, inexplicably so in my opinion. <\/em><\/p>\n In birds the upper portion of the bill, an extension of the upper jaw, is typically called the ‘upper mandible’ while the lower part of the bill is called the ‘lower mandible’. It’s confusing and inconsistent if you ask me.<\/em><\/p>\n Several years ago one of my ex-students called me out (nicely) when I referred to a bird’s upper bill as its upper mandible rather than its maxilla so I just wanted to explain why I’ve used that terminology here. For further discussion of this topic see the David Harkins comment thread below.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Including one with an atypical bill.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/belted-kingfisher-4782-big-crop-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-4782-big-crop-ron-dudley\\"")
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