Occasionally a bird gives me a somewhat wacky pose that I enjoy enough to post. This image is one of those.
1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
The clouds had just started to clear on Antelope Island after a hard rain three days ago and everything was soaked, including this Western Meadowlark. At first it was perched high on an old mullein stem but that platform was a apparently a little too unstable to support its gymnastics as it preened vigorously in an attempt to dry off in the sun so it hopped down to a lower, more stable perch. And yes, that perch is bison dung.
For me there’s a variety of elements here that support the “goofy” theme, including the wet bird, the stiff-legged, disheveled peekaboo pose, the big plop of poop perch and even the 8 (or more) bright circular specular highlights caused by the sunlight hitting water droplets in the setting. Normally I might remove them but this time they just seemed to fit in.
Even the placement of my copyright watermark seems a little odd but I had nowhere better to put it and it seemed appropriate enough for an image like this anyway.
I hope the image provides my readers a smile, especially all you mothers out there. You deserve it. Happy Mother’s Day!
Ron
I have had folks point out those circular highlights as proof of strange beings inhabiting earth. That fits the goofiness theme. But I can only find 7 of them. Is this a quiz?
Pam, I count 8 but who’s keeping track? 🙂
Your comment about quizes reminded me of my teaching days. Thanks for that – they are (nearly) always good memories!
Beutiful image! Love the raindrops. They give a sense of action and also that feeling of being out when it’s raining. They add to the emotion of the image.
I wonder what wet meadowlark and wet bison poop smell like?
I enjoyed this little journey!
SUE
How can anyone not smile at this image? It is definitely goofy, but beautiful at the same time.
When a pile of crap is the most stable thing around me I really, really hope there is no-one there with a camera. And my hypocritical self is very glad you were there to capture that moment.
Thank you, EC.
Elie Baby–Do you think that bird might be trying to show us how he can turn himself into a pretzel???
If so, he is showing off. Wings and agility together. Sigh. How I would love to fly. How I would love to be more supple than a brick. If I attempted that pose I would face-plant into the crap. Bigger sigh.
Me, too…on all counts…..
This is odd. I thought that Mother’s Day was the same day around the world. Apparently not so. We had our Mother’s Day last Sunday!!!
Great catch. It looks like he is saying – Please shut the door, can’t I have some privacy?
Have a nice day.
I guess I thought the same thing, Jorge. Interesting to know that yours in Portugal was a week ago.
LOL, Ron!! What would have REALLY added to the whole vision was the Meadowlark doing an Aim & Shoot (if you get my drift)!! Again with watching the eagle nests it amazed us that the eaglets knew to back up to the edge of the nest to do their business!!
Jo Ann, it “aimed and shot” several times while I was photographing it. But I figured there was already enough of that stuff in the image…
SPIDER!
LOL That’s pretty much what I look like when i see something that startles me.
Arwen, it’s probably what I looked like the last time a big bird flushed in front of me. Not many things startle me more than that.
My stepfather used to love to tell the tale of my mother and the Great Blue Heron. She was walking on the seawall (they lived right on the bayou) early one morning. He says he heard two loud squawks and to this day isn’t sure which was Mama and which was the bird. 😀 I wish I could have seen that.
Hi! It is a crazy bird! Great you got to photo it in that pose! Have a great day!
Thank you, Hummingbird Lover.
Jeeeez! Are you sure that’s a Meadowlark??? I’ve seldom seen one with its beak closed….unless it was flying. Some people give mothers candy,flowers,jewelry, etc. I’ve never been given s pile of buffalo poop before…especially one that looks like it’s topped with bird poop and a goofy looking wet bird!!! Thanks (even if it is kind of a sh–t y gift, I know it’s the thought that counts)…P. 😉
I’ll give you flowers next year, Patty. For now, it’s poop…
Is it the REAL poop? Or is that the real Scoop???
I HATE this iPad…the Honeymoon is over!!!
Great shot! A great representation of how I feel at the end of my work day.
I remember the feeling, Tish. Glad my work days are behind me.
Here’s a gift for you, Ron. Thete’s no faculty meeting on Friday……P. 😉
Now I KNOW you were a teacher, Patty.
Faculty meetings were hell for me. Thankfully we never had them on Fridays. Even the powers that be didn’t dare do that – they would have been boycotted and I’d have led the revolt.
Other than than having a keen sense of time wasted, I actually learned to how to tolerate them. I learned to sit in the back, next to the coach, who, without moving his lips or changing expression, kept up a hilarious monologue/commentary through out the whole othetwise endless pontification…God bless Richie Meyer!!!
A bird Yoga Stretch!
Works for me, Alan…
Sensational shot Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.