Heavy fog at the Antelope Island Park entrance – HTC One M8 cellphone
There was a very heavy fog over the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island yesterday morning and it looked gloomy and gray even before the park entrance on the west side of Syracuse. I was a tiny bit hopeful that the island itself wouldn’t be covered in a blanket of fog even though the entire length of the 7 mile causeway to the island looked about like the photo above.
Heavy fog at Bridger Bay Campground – HTC One M8 cellphone
The fog was dense near Ladyfinger Point and the visitors center all the way to the Bridger Bay Campground. By this point I was fairly certain that I was going to get skunked on the island and go home without a single decent image of a bird. This hillside, Buffalo Point, did have some deer on it but they were muted by the fog and quite a distance away.
Female Red-winged Blackbird at White Rock Bay – Nikon D810, f9, 1/800, ISO 800, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
But over in the White Rock Bay Campground area a small sucker hole opened up and there was blue sky overhead with sunlight for a little bit and during that time I photographed some birds in decent light. I was delighted to photograph a female Red-winged Blackbird at White Rock Bay as she perched a dead greasewood branch. She was part of a small flock of blackbirds foraging for seeds on the ground.
A Red-winged Blackbird female on a January Morning – Nikon D810, f9, 1/1000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
I photographed this female Red-winged Blackbird until she flew away and joined the other blackbirds on the ground behind the bushes. Before long the fog swirled back in and the sucker hole overhead closed up and it looked as gray as the image above of Bridger Bay.
I didn’t get skunked on the island even though it was socked in by fog yesterday.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Red-winged Blackbird photos plus facts and information about this species.
She was waiting for you Mia! Beautiful shots. The light produced some beautiful colors and you nailed it!
Glad you stuck it out and got these great images of a pretty little streaky, brown lady…I love the gnarly, spikey-looking twig perch in the first, the soft background colors,.and the birds snuggled down into their feather-warmth in both. Must have been foggy and cold…..
Love these images, especially the one of the ladyblackbird looking upwards. It’s hard not to subconsciously associate a human feeling of “hope” with that body posture. Maybe she was looking at the sucker hole, too? 🙂 I’ve found it very interesting to watch what the birds at the house feeders are reacting to, and how they watch the sky for predatory birds, before they fly off.
Beautiful images, Mia. Perseverance does pay off.