Willow Flycatcher perched in a serviceberry shrub – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Obtaining decent photos of Willow Flycatchers in the Wasatch Mountains has been harder and more challenging for me this year than last and there are a few reasons for that. One of those reasons is the ever-changing nature of Nature.
At one of the more reliable spots where I photographed Willow Flycatchers last year has changed because of beavers gnawing down some willows that were right next to the road that the Willow Flycatchers last breeding season seemed to have a preference for nesting in. The beavers also wiped out one of the favorite perches for the flycatchers in that area so the flycatchers that are in that spot have been perching across the creek and that is simply too far away to obtain high quality, frame filling images of them.
In another prime location I’ve found for photographing these flycatchers a beaver dam has changed the flow of a creek and I suspect that has altered the preference of favorite perch selection for the flycatchers there as well. The Willow Flycatchers there have been frequently perching behind other trees where I can hear them but can’t usually see or photograph them.
Change in Nature is constant. Trees come down, new trees grow. Water levels in creeks, streams and lakes rise and fall. Late spring cold snaps can affect the berry crop, one year the crop is great and the next year it can be poor. From one year to the next the changes I see when I am in the field can be subtle or drastic but there is always change.
So two days ago when I was able to photograph a Willow Flycatcher out in the open perched on a branch of a serviceberry I was as happy as a lark. It was a nice “change” to photograph one of the flycatchers on something other than a willow.
Life is good. Stay safe.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Willow Flycatcher photos plus facts and information about this species.
A “dapper chapper!” 🙂
I photographed my first Willow Flycatcher this spring. I love their call.
A subtle charmer – thank you.
Very nice photo. I could hear young in the willows but they stayed deeply hidden in the willow.
Nice image! We had many Willow Flycatchers near our (former) second home in NE Illinois. Down here in south Florida I have seen and documented the calls of the look-alike Alder Flycatchers during fall migration. I do not think a single Willow Flycatcher has been reported in our County (Broward) over the past 10 years. I once thought I heard one but without a recording of its call it went unreported.