![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/willow-flycatcher-5545-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"willow-flycatcher-5545-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nWhen I start composing a blog post I never know where I’ll end up.<\/p>\n
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1\/5000, f\/7, 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 in the mountains this Willow Flycatcher made a brief appearance on a very convenient perch in the willow right in front of me. ‘He’ only gave me enough time for about a dozen quick shots before he took off but he was looking away for part of the time and he was close enough that many of my photos weren’t composed very well in the frame (he was too close to one edge or another). I only kept two of the photos and deleted the rest.<\/p>\n The two photos were very similar so I had a hard time deciding which one to feature on Feathered Photography. But eventually I chose this one for two reasons; I like his slightly cocked head angle and there’s nothing funky about his eye.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/7, 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 is the other photo I briefly considered. In this shot the eye contact is more direct and some viewers might see that as a plus but his eye is funky-looking because his nictitating membrane is closed. The membrane has caused the pinpoint catchlight to become diffused and slightly strange looking. It’s a natural phenomenon that I try to avoid discriminating against but with little success. To many viewers it just doesn’t look “right”.<\/p>\n In birds nictitating membranes run the gamut from being transparent to translucent to almost opaque. Presumably this flycatcher can see reasonably well through his transparent membrane.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But it’s a different story with the nearly opaque membrane of Black-billed Magpies. This magpie had closed ‘his’ membrane for a moment to protect his eye as he tried to muscle a stick to the top of his domed nest. Magpies are known to flash their membranes as a means of communication with other magpies so having it appear as blue-white against the black facial feathers makes it easily seen by other birds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Anyway, these are some of the mind games I went through while trying to choose a flycatcher image to post today. Do I discriminate against the membrane just because it looks a little different? How about posting both flycatcher images and highlighting the difference? In this context is it too much of a stretch to transition from the transparent membrane of flycatchers to the opaque membrane of magpies?<\/p>\n This is where I ended up. Today’s post may seem a little unorganized and disjointed but I hope it’s still interesting. And maybe some readers learned a little something about nictitating membranes.<\/p>\n And the mental gymnastics of writing blog posts.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I start composing a blog post I never know where I’ll end up.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/willow-flycatcher-5546-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"willow-flycatcher-5546-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/black-billed-magpie-5885-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"black-billed-magpie-5885-ron-dudley\\"")
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