A “twofer”.
Like yesterday’s post this is another of the photos that I rediscovered two days ago after they weren’t properly categorized by species when I originally took them so they were “lost” for a decade or more. This one was taken on Antelope Island on June 29, 2009 so it’s a relative youngster compared to the 11-year-old Barn Owl photo I posted yesterday.
This is the last of those lost photos I’ll post but birds have been slow and the weather and light crappy for photography so I figured this was a good time to do it.
1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Readers know that I try very hard to catch birds at takeoff and I always enjoy photos of them when they have prey, thus the “twofer” designation in my introduction. This bird had a beak-full of young grasshoppers, probably destined for a gaggle of hungry chicks in the nest since it was nesting season.
I don’t think it’s a particularly attractive photo – the bird looks just a little rough around the edges (possibly due to molt or the rigors of raising a family, or both) and the scraggly perch may or may not appeal to some viewers. But I don’t need “pretty” in my images. A bird in an interesting pose behaving as birds do naturally is generally more than enough for me.
Besides, it was fun finding these lost photos so I decided to share.
Ron
Note: I may or may not be a little sporadic in responding to any comments on this post. I had “stuff” on my mind during the night and didn’t sleep well so I’ve been awake since 2:15 and up since 2:45. That’s just a bit early, even for me, so if the clouds don’t cooperate for photography I’m hoping to catch some much-needed Z’s sometime later this morning.
Bad timing the night before New Year’s Eve fireworks. If I were king I’d ban fireworks altogether except for public displays at a reasonable hour. I despise them in neighborhoods at anytime but especially in the middle of the night.
Hope you’re getting some ZZZZs right now! Great 2-fer today. I’m going with parental scruffiness. My current mama dog foster is a mess — beyond what I can fix with mats — so I’m getting her professionally groomed on Friday and we’ll play pass the puppy (to socialize the baby) while mom gets her spa day. Too bad we can’t do the same for avian parents. 🙂
Thanks, Marty. Good luck with both pooches on Friday.
Lovely gems, like finding money in the pocket of a coat not worn for years. I wish I could find some of my energy and zest lost a decade or so ago.
I have the same wish, April. There’s quite a difference in my case.
Given the rigours of feeding the family that bird looks considerably less scruffy than I would. And I love the way the twigs echo the bird.
The New Year has landed here. I heard the fireworks in the lead-up to the ‘big’ moment. And for about the next hour heard distressed birds flying and calling over head.
I do like fireworks – to my shame, but their cost is too high.
A Happy and hopeful New Year to you and all your readers.
And I do hope you get your nap and that whatever kept you awake subsides.
Thanks, EC. My nap this morning was a quick one so I’m hoping to extend it soon… 🙂
Working parents cc any take time for good grooming. What’s a few straggly feathers compared to well-fed chicks.
Good point.
The rachis/twig similarity mentioned by Kathy and the “confusion” of the beak full of grasshoppers which complements the scruffy under feathers; looks like you have at least a fourfer.
A fourfer works for me, Lyle. Thank you.
I love the scraggly perch!
Good. I like it too. Thanks, Cheryl.]
f/8? You mean shooting at f/11 is not good? WOW!!!! Just kidding! I never learned about the ‘sweet spot’ till much later when I was shooting all over the f/ spectrum. ISO and speed has changed a ton of my photography. But, then I tend laps from time to time.
Fun going through old photos.
Thanks for sharing.
“Fun going through old photos”
It sure is, Dick – especially when there’s a good possibility of finding a few hidden gems.
Happy New Year Ron.
And thank you for all those jewels you shared with us throughout this year.
Thanks, Jorge. The same to you.
Your shots are the best Ron…I’m glad you don’t need “pretty” in your shots…That’s one of the reasons I enjoy your posts so much…I enjoy nature in all it’s wonder and many times it is not pretty.Your behavior shots are so entertaining and educational (and many times very pretty also). I also got stuck in that F/8 scenario for a while…live and learn..Thank you for a great year Ron and I am and looking forward to your blog next year.
P.S. I agree totally with the fireworks thing!
Steve, I was stuck in that silly f/8 rut for most of a year. It really limited my shutter speed, especially because with those older cameras I wouldn’t go above ISO 500.
Nice photo Ron. Happy New Year. Get some rest and take tomorrow off. We can all survive without Feathered Photography for one day.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Thanks, Everett. I just took a short nap. That helped.
This is great. I’m surprised how sharp the wings are in motion despite your “unusually” slower shutter speed (I’m used to seeing much faster in your typical posts), and “atypical” f/8 (I usually see wider).
Ha, I wondered if anyone would be curious about both of those things, Elmer.
Good eye on the SS and sharpness. I’m pretty sure the wings are as sharp as they are because my shutter clicked at the apex of the wingbeat between going up and going down. That slowed them enough that 1/1250 was fast enough.
This was in the early days of my photography. I’d read somewhere that f/8 was the “sweet spot” for sharpness for my lens so I nearly always shot at f/8 back then. Dumb. You might have noticed that yesterday’s old Barn Owl photo was also shot at f/8.
I love how the twigs are pointing outward and upward…they lead the eye to the supposed direction the meadowlark’s flight will take. And the outstretched wings on the bird are amazing.
I noticed and liked the same thing you mentioned, Marcia – the way those two longest twigs point in the same direction the bird is looking and taking off.
Interesting catch. I usually look at your photo(s) before I read the text. My first thought here…’what a straggly looking bird’ and ‘what twiggy legs’. Those legs match the twiggy branch and I think this is the right term, ‘rachis’ of the feathers being pronounced as they are seems to pick up on the twiggyness of the branch. So I would say a well put together natural photo greatly enhanced by that lovely background. 😍 The bird does seem thin…perhaps the perils of parenthood as you say. I hear you about the slowness of the birds lately. I’ve been looking out at the marsh for the ShortEars about four times a week but not luck. Did happily stumble upon a cooperative Snowy though and startled a Great Blue up from a creek which I was totally unprepared for. They have long migrated…can’t understand seeing this one now with the colder temps and mostly frozen waters. My project for this morning to perhaps find him again and be ready this time. Isn’t it fun! 😊
It’s fun and frustrating at the same time, Kathy.
Some GBH’s around here don’t migrate in winter. They just work any open water they can find and then if/when it all freezes up they hunt voles. They’re pretty adept at stabbing voles with their dagger beaks – the results are often pretty bloody.
Still a great photo Ron capturing “life as it is” – not always “pristine”;) Keeping young fed enough to make any parent look a little rough. Like the stretch for take off. Screaming blizzard here yesterday in our area and 6 this morning. Not a ton of snow for us thank goodness tho yet to see what it did drift wise out of the “yard”. 102 mph wind gust at E Glacier Sat. Hope you’re able to get a snooze or 2 today!
Thanks, Judy. I remember those MT snow drifts well. That wind can really pile it up. As a kid it would pile up so high against our house it would sometimes nearly reach the eaves. It was great fun to climb up it, get on the roof, and then jump into the snow on another side where it wasn’t quite so deep.
If the wind was over 100mph in East Glacier yesterday I wonder how hard it blew in Cut Bank, only 45 miles to the east. Bet there’s some big drifts on our farm too.
Wind was Saturday so hard to say about yesterday……….
I’ve gotta learn to read…