So I’m surprised I haven’t posted the photo before.
1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
It was taken on Antelope Island in April of 2016. I have no memory of taking it and I had no idea it was even in my files, until yesterday when I stumbled across it while culling a block of older images.
It’s the pose that I like most but I also think the rock surrounded by early spring grasses and dried grasses from the previous year is a great perch. I have a clean background and the Chukar is well lit. Partly because of the elevated perch the bird was at eye level and in my view that’s nearly always a plus. As a final small but important detail, I love those white vegetation fibers wrapped around ‘his’ red legs and feet.
If I were forced to pick some nits there would be two of them. It was almost 9:30 in the morning when I took the photo so the light isn’t quite as soft and warm as I’d prefer and I didn’t have enough room on the left for a composition I’d like a little better than this one. For personal aesthetic reasons I generally prefer a 5:7 aspect ratio but for this version of the photo I had to settle for 4:5.
But if I weren’t forced to pick nits I probably wouldn’t pick any.
Ron
Beautiful. And yet more proof that ‘red eye’ in photographs isn’t a negative. And, as you no doubt remember, ever since you introduced me to chukars I have had a weakness for the Beagle boys.
Of course I remember, EC. I actually thought of you as soon as I decided to post this photo.
In people as in birds, that over-the-shoulder head turn is a classic look. I think this chukar’s wings look sculpted from clay (and maybe dripping chocolate sauce for those stripes).
This Western states heat wave (which has, thankfully, steered clear of my part of the world for now) is distressing. It portends a brutal summer for all of us, human and animal. 🥺
I knew there was a reason I love Chukars. Chocolate!
I often have mixed emotions about non-native species (including our own;), but your photo makes this guy looks so innocent and harmless that one can’t help but take an instant liking to him.
It’s supposed to get to about 90º here in this part of the northwest today, but we’re such heat wusses that we’ll take any sympathy you throw our way.
Lyle, consider gobs of sympathy thrown your way.
I share your mixed emotions but with Chukars I have fewer reservations than I do with most non-native bird species. Here’s part of what Birds of the World has to say on the subject of negative impacts from Chukars:
“The impacts of the most successful introductions, in the mainland USA and Hawaii, on indigenous wildlife have been apparently negligible, although in parts of North America the species causes damage to a variety of fruit and root crops, while in Hawaii A. chukar is ironically credited as being a seed disperser that has facilitated the restoration of degraded native ecosystems”
Thanks for letting those of us from other areas know that this is a non-native, invasive species.🤔 That prompted me to look them up so I can now better understand those concerns. (But it is still a superb photo.) 😉
I have never seen one. Definitely a real nice image!
Thank you, Bruce.
The over the shoulder look is my favorite next to a good lift off.
It’s one of my favorites too.
Great photo of an elegant bird. I know it’s non-native but it seems to belong here in the habitat we find it in. I’m not often in that habitat so I don’t see them as often as I would like. I think of the rim-rock country where they live as often hot but today our temperature here in Eugene is predicted to be 111. It was 102 yesterday. We seldom ever get such temperatures and never at the end of June. It looks to be a long, hot summer. I fear a repeat of last year’s fires.
I feel for you folks in the northwest, Dan. We’re supposed to be in the low 100’s by week’s end but most of us have AC, or at least swamp coolers. I can’t imagine 110 without AC.
Well actually I can imagine. Years ago I was visiting my daughter in Vegas when a brownout hit that covered much of Nevada and CA. It was 118° in Vegas and with no power the AC wouldn’t work and neither would gas pumps so I couldn’t head back home to cooler temps. No fun, none at all.
Lesson learned. These days I always fill up with gas soon after I arrive at my destination.
For those of us who do not have your skill level most of your photos look perfect. Another very nice one of a bird I have never seen. Down here in North Central AZ we have lots of smoke from the many fires burning close by and not too far distant. For all the ones within maybe fifty miles the big converted DC10’s pick up their slurry at our airport so they are flying in the close proximity of our house for much of the day.
Thanks for the kind words, Everett.
So far we’ve been lucky with smoke around here but I’m sure it won’t last much longer, especially with our fireworks wackos and the spineless politicians who refuse to tackle the problem.
Really terrific photo. The smoothness of the feather is so attractive…I can’t help but wonder if the tones of this particular color is what does it. The mourning dove or cedar wax wing have that same look as a few others. The out of focus floating vegetation adds and helps to make the green grass and rock sharp. Great keeper!
Kathy, the sleekness of this and other birds that you mentioned made me think of something. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Chukar rousing so that its feathers are all ruffled up. If I have I sure don’t remember it.
Sometimes my mind goes in strange directions…
Elegant !
Thanks, Kris.
Gorgeous bird, fabulous bokeh, sharp . . . and nits are generally not healthy for humans or beasts or so I have been told. 😉😊
Thanks for sharing a bird I would otherwise never have seen.
I don’t see Chukars often anymore either, Pat. Which makes the photos I do have of them all the more special.
Nice! Can tell the difference in light from what earlier light would have been. No “nits to pick” in my opinion. Lovely pose for you……. 🙂
Heat on it’s way for the next week – UGH!
Thanks, Judy. Hope you have AC. Sure wish more of those poor folks in the northwest had it.
We have one smaller bedroom AC – helps, but not much……… 🙁
We didn’t have AC on the MT farm either. Back then it always cooled off a LOT at night. Hope it still does.