Western Meadowlarks can be quite approachable when they’re singing on territory in the spring and summer but they’re generally shy at other times. So I was quite surprised yesterday morning when this one allowed a close approach as it preened on a snowy perch.
I took many, many shots of this crazy, mixed up Meadowlark this past spring and I posted a few of them previously. This is another one that I like.
Antelope Island is crawling (and flying) with “bugs” right now. Mosquitoes are common, flying midges are thick as are the dreaded biting gnats (I call this the “itching and bitching” season).
Avoiding “clipped” body parts is perhaps the biggest challenge associated with take-off shots.
When I’m photographing Western Meadowlarks at take-off there’s always one flight posture I hope I don’t get.
Yesterday I was able to get a shot of a Western Meadowlark that may be one of my favorite images of a songbird in flight. But there’s a potential flaw that niggles at me…
This was the strangest behavior I’ve ever seen from a meadowlark, though it was difficult to capture photographically.
The song of the meadowlark often stirs fond memories and thoughts of peaceful and melodious spring mornings. But for birds that song represents the tension of competition for territories and females – anything but tranquility.
In northern Utah, anticipating how long our Western Meadowlarks will stick around during winter is always a guessing game.
Yesterday morning I photographed a juvenile Western Meadowlark on Antelope Island. I have few images of them at that stage of development so I couldn’t help comparing some of the differences between adult and juvenile.
Yesterday morning I found this Western Meadowlark perched up high, in pretty good light and with a clean background so I couldn’t resist firing away.
Antelope Island is still teeming with Western Meadowlarks and will be for the rest of the summer. Most are uncooperative but there are exceptions.
I tend to like gnarly old sagebrush perches and I’ve had my eye on this one for a while. It’s close to the road, in good light in the morning and Western Meadowlarks use it often. But unlike when they’re perched on an ugly sign, they always seem to fly off as I approach when they’re on this one.
That changed yesterday morning.
I wanted to post two more recent Western Meadowlark images that weren’t take-off shots, like my last post of this species. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light This image, taken four days ago, shows the bright yellows on the belly, breast and throat but part of the bird is obscured. Obviously it was singing up a storm. Just looking at the image brings the song into my head. 1/5000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light And this one, from two days ago, shows the backside. I was very close to this bird. So close that I had to shoot vertically, which complicates things with my long, awkward lens. By the time I had it framed and got off a few shots I realized that my settings were wrong for the situation (didn’t need the high ISO or shutter speed and more depth of field would have kept more of the sagebrush sharp) but by then it was too late and the bird took off. Sometimes birds cooperate and then they don’t… Ron PS – As I was working on this post which was meant to be published tomorrow morning I hit “publish” instead of “update” before it was ready. So there’s some “hiccups” in it, especially for those who get the post emails. Sorry. I’ve always worried about doing that…
