Tag: worn feathers

Loggerhead Shrikes – A Color Change I Don’t Understand

I’m confused about a color change I’m seeing in Loggerhead Shrikes.    1600, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, image taken 4/26/13 on Antelope Island  For most of the year the adults I see have a white or pale ventral surface (belly, breast and sides) which is exactly as described in the field guides and other resources I have access to.      2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, image taken 7/3/13 on Antelope Island But beginning in about early July there’s a fairly dramatic change that is not addressed in my field guides.  That white plumage turns significantly darker and an almost black area on the upper breast appears.   This is about the time they’re fledging chicks around here and when I first noticed this several years ago I wondered if the birds were simply becoming “dirty” as they scurried around trying to feed and care for those very demanding youngsters.  But now I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. All of the adult Loggerhead Shrikes I see go through this change to some degree or another.      3200, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, image taken 7/14/13 on Antelope Island Here’s another (pretty silly looking) example.  This is also the time of year when these birds are molting so I wondered if I was somehow seeing black skin (some birds do have black skin) through very skimpy plumage that time of year and I was somehow mistaking it for black feathers.  But as you can see in this preening, molting adult, their skin…

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Black-billed Magpie Iridescence

Black-billed Magpies are loud, flashy and conspicuous black and white birds.  And they’re a challenge to photograph well because of the exposure difficulty – getting detail in the blacks without “blowing out” the whites.  I probably discard a higher proportion of shots of this species than I do any other.  But if you work hard at it (with a little luck thrown into the mix) you can get some pretty spectacular shots that have detail in the blacks and whites and their showy iridescence. The actual plumage of these birds is truly black and white, with no other colors.   But in the right light the feather structure (and other factors) on the tail and wings of these birds bends the light much like a prism and produces a variety of colors, predominantly blues and greens.  When I’m photographing magpies, one of my goals is usually to capture some of that iridescence.    1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 100-400 @ 400mm, natural light Three days ago I found this magpie perched on a snow-covered boulder on Antelope Island.  As you can see the whites are well-exposed but there’s not a lot of detail in the blacks.  This is the type of magpie image that I normally wouldn’t do much with except for purposes such as this post (my high shutter speeds were due to the snow and the fact that I was attempting take-off shots).       1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 100-400 @ 400mm, natural light This is the same bird on the same perch but the image was taken…

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