Fledgling Loggerhead Shrike Learning The Ropes
Yesterday we came across this Loggerhead Shrike fledgling perched high and pretty in the early morning light. 1/500, f/8, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc A few minutes after this shot was taken the bird flew off so we decided to look for more opportunities elsewhere and left the area. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Just before we quit shooting for the day we decided to look for the fledgling again in the same area as before. We found two of them this time – one flew off almost immediately but this one allowed us some close observations for about 25 minutes. By this time of the morning the bird was side-lit in most situations but we got to see some interesting behaviors. Typical of youngsters this one was curious about its surroundings and spent quite a bit of time exploring the greasewood bush it was in. Here it is about to half hop/half fly to the twigs in the upper left of the frame. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Several times it picked off one of the drier greasewood buds and played with it for a while. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But a parent coming in with food always got the full attention of the fledgling. In this image one of the adults is delivering a grasshopper to the begging young bird – you can just see the top of the parents head at the bottom of the frame as it works its way…