For me there’s something quite special about a meadowlark in snow.
1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
I photographed this one in December three years ago on Antelope Island as it was soaking up some warming rays from the morning sun. I love it when they fluff up like this to keep warm in cold temperatures and all this snow puts an exclamation point on the effect for me. Seeing “his” feet buried in the snow makes my own toes cold but I realize that the feet of many birds are well adapted to cold.
There’s another reason I enjoy seeing meadowlarks in snow. Western Meadowlarks were very common on the family farm in northern Montana where I grew up (in fact they’re the Montana state bird) and even as a kid I loved them. But in the winter it’s too damned cold up there for most sane people and all meadowlarks so they would always migrate south for the winter months. Which meant I never saw them in snow.
So when I moved here in the late 60’s it was a real treat for me to find them in northern Utah during winter and I’ve appreciated their winter presence ever since. Actually we’re right on the edge of their year-round/breeding range boundary so on some very cold years we don’t have them either.
Which makes me appreciate an image like this one even more.
Ron
Notes:
- To my Montana friend and blog follower Judy Gusick – notice that I said “most” sane people. You of course are perfectly sane and a year-round Montana resident, an exception to the rule… 🙂
- It looks like WordPress didn’t send email links for this post to my subscribers this morning. I didn’t get mine either. Not sure what’s going on. If you got yours please let me know in the comments.
- Addendum: WordPress FINALLY sent out the damn email!
I miss the meadowlarks in our south Florida neighborhood. Poor (actually no) management of the local “preserve” has allowed all the prairies to turn into thick forests of invasive Melaleuca trees. BTW birds also conserve heat because the veins leaving the extremity run next to the arteries feeding them, transferring heat to the returning blood.
Very cheerful photo. Makes me think if he can survive the winter temps then so can I, although I’ll be bundled up and can retreat to a warm house. We naked apes are such wimps.
Any more words on this foot adaptation to the cold or a link to a previous post? I know of the feathered foot bird adaptation and the adaptation to draw one or both feet into the body feathers – even while sleeping and while standing, but I always wondered how they could get away with standing with their feet out in the cold or roosted on a tree branch that way. The feathers can’t insulate the toes wrapping the branches and even that seemingly minimal exposure has to be terrific in the -2 degF night we had recently.
Art, the way I remember it is this. Birds have relatively few blood vessels, muscles and nerves in their feet. Foot action is powered by warmer muscles higher up in the leg that are attached to long tendons in the feet and lower legs. Unlike muscles, tendons need very little blood supply. Limiting those types of tissues in the feet significantly reduces the need for blood and lessens heat loss. The tissues that are there are less likely to freeze or be bothered by cold than most tissues.
That said, if it gets cold enough they can still be in big trouble.
I remember hearing the lovely song of meadowlarks for the first time on a camping trip, but couldn’t see them. This photo matches the loveliness of their song. Thank you.
Next time I hope you can see them, Elizabeth. Thanks.
Beautiful picture. The yellow really stands out against the snow. We’re supposed to have them year round here, but I have yet to see one in the winter.
Thanks, Jean. Sometimes they’re here in the winter, sometimes they’re not.
Great shot, Ron. Love the juxtaposition of the sunny yellow and the snow. Poor guy looks a little chilly.
What about me, Marty? I was chilly too! 🙂 Thank you.
Cold hands; warm heart? 😉
What an absolute charmer.
And I do love to see birds ‘fluffed’ into their winter woollies.
Thank you, EC.
Just lovely. I love meadowlarks for the same reasons as you plus their lovely song. Hearing it makes my heart sing with joy! What a joyous beginning to my day.
Thanks, Laura. I hope your comment indicates that your fingers and hands are giving you less pain…
Not really less pain and to add to it, I’ve got a paper cut at the tip of my right index finger that is struggling to heal because it’s on my right hand and I use that finger constantly. Just broke it open again this morning getting my second giant hood out of the mess that is my garage and into the Jeep. Why the second giant hood? Jack, 18-year-old male HAHA, has a new baby brother. Dufus is three years old, which in this house is a baby! He hasn’t decided to work with me yet because he’s fat as a hog, which means I’m still ugly and my mother dressed me funny 😉 But soon, he’ll see me as the purveyor of food when he fails to catch his own. I’ll be useful as a slave. All will be well again. As for the fingers, I’m saving those for the necessary tasks each day. Maybe I’ll get a new keyboard that will go with my new fingers 😉
Good luck with your new bird!
Thanks Ron…hopefully he’ll love me soon. THEN we’ll see if I can manage two birds in the field at the same time!
A real stunning photograph – just perfect! Love the puffball of a bird and your story to go with it. Thanks
Thanks very much, Joanne.
Wow! This one’s a stunner! Aren’t birds awesome? Thanks once again for a wonderful start to my day!
“Aren’t birds awesome?”
Spot on, Diane! That’s it in a nutshell.
wonderful Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
I never get tired of photographing meadowlarks .. and it’s that time of year they are plentiful ..it’s bluebird meadowlark and junco time😀.. love your picture!!
Thanks, Marina. I agree, I’ll photograph them any time of year although around here they’re sure easier to approach in the spring and summer.
My heart is smiling. How I miss seeing Meadowlarks in my neighborhood. This photo is just wonderful and would make a lovely Christmas card. Do you sell your prints? I would love a print to frame and hang in my home. (I received my email link at 8:47 am EST)
Thanks, Melanie. I do sell prints occasionally though I don’t pursue it. See the “image and print requests” link at the top right of my blog.
Thank you, Ron. I had not noticed the “Image and Print Requests” link in the top right corner of your blog. Chalk it up to my advancing age and focusing on your wonderful photography and entertaining posts. Hope your spirits are lifting today. Your photos and blog are so very special to all of us.
Here’s the way I look at that “advancing age” thing, Melanie. No matter how young or old we are, all of us are in advancing age! 🙂
LOL! Love your attitude regarding “advancing age”. I am 68 yet feel like I am 38. I keep the aging thing as light as possible knowing that many have not been so fortunate. I am a lucky gal. I wish I could take away your back pain. I have been there and know just how it robs you of life’s pleasures and spirit. Thank you for persisting and bringing the joy of your words and photos to me way off in NC.
That is a beautiful picture. Would have been good just on a tree branch, but on the snow makes for a gorgeous shot. Very nice Ron. Thanks for sharing. I love these guys and gals and always look forward to their arrival and hearing that very unique call. A few winters back I got pictures of a male bathing in the waters on the edge of one of our lakes. My fingers were so cold I could hardly take the photo, but he was behaving like it was a spring day.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Thanks, Everett. I get that “cold fingers on the shutter button” thing, been there and done that many times!
Just showed up now which is a bit late…. Beautiful photo of the Meadowlark in the snow – certainly a first for me! 🙂 Really sets off the birds colors. 🙂 We do sometimes wonder about our sanity living here BUT North Central MT with it’s beauty and low population is certainly preferable to many other places. Will take our cold to the hurricanes/heat & humidity and other such phenomena any day! 😉
I agree, Judy. That area of MT absolutely has additional attractions that more than make up for the frigid, miserable winters. If I hadn’t had problems with health insurance coverage in MT I’d have made the move back there when I retired in a heartbeat!
Always something to mess with our plans – Health Ins. would do it for sure!
Before I turned 65 my insurance wouldn’t transfer to MT. After I got on Medicare it would have of course but by then my back was bad enough I didn’t dare do it.
I got my link just now. Meadowlarks singing stops me in my tracks every time.
I checked. Timestamp for your post was 5:44am. My receipt of same was 6:54. So an hour delay. I’m in the same time zone as you are, professor
Yeah, the same thing happened to me, Arwen. Looks like WordPress just screwed up.
Absolutely stunning photo! ❤️ You nailed everything in this photo…the bird is so sharp…the colors perfect and the little tan droplets look just like droplets on the feathers! Right amount of snow and dried ‘flora & fauna’! Yes…you nailed it with this one. 😍 We get the Eastern here and I always await their return. I didn’t get the email but checked yesterdays and saw this. So very glad I did!
Thanks for the kind words about the photo and for the feedback on the email, Kathy. Damn, the fact that the email didn’t go out could mean big problems for Feathered Photography (it’s complicated). I’ll have to see what I’m going to do about it. It could be a very expensive “fix”.