{"id":100621,"date":"2022-03-13T05:24:25","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T11:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=100621"},"modified":"2022-03-13T05:24:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T11:24:25","slug":"looking-for-my-first-of-year-sage-thrasher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/13\/looking-for-my-first-of-year-sage-thrasher\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking For My First Of Year Sage Thrasher"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FluffyFluffy Sage Thrasher adult warming up on a rock \u2013 Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

March 13th is an anniversary of sorts for me. The date is the earliest that I have seen and<\/em> photographed a Sage Thrasher in northern Utah. The year was 2015 and the location was on the east side of Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a>. I spotted and pointed out two Sage Thrashers on that bright, late winter morning. One thrasher was not cooperative but the one in the photo above was as it perched on a rock warming up in the morning sun in front of the Great Salt Lake.<\/p>\n

I can barely wait until I hear my first of year Sage Thrasher singing<\/span><\/a> from the top of a rock or sagebrush. It won’t happen today because it is supposed to be rainy but I know it won’t be much longer until I hear a “Mountain Mockingbird” singing.<\/p>\n

Due to severity of my allergic reactions to the bites of no-see-ums (biting gnats) I have reduced my visits Antelope Island in the spring when the gnats first hatch. The good news is that I know where I can find Sage Thrashers in other areas where I don’t have to be bitten by the gnats to photograph these thrashers.<\/p>\n

Listening to the Sage Thrashers is an earful of joy. Watching them display in early spring is a visual delight. Sage Thrashers aren’t brightly colored birds like the Western Tanagers, Mountain Bluebirds or the hummingbirds that arrive here in spring but they have a vibrancy of their own and part of that vibrancy is contained in the frequency of their songs.<\/p>\n

The next weather front coming up from the south may be the push the thrashers need to migrate into northern Utah.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Sage Thrasher photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 13th is an anniversary of sorts for me. The date is the earliest that I have seen and photographed a Sage Thrasher in northern Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[511,27,1148,103,26],"tags":[4004,11978,6242,788,4005,5178,5465,821,2270,2339,4273,4164,4921,4003,4613,735,4985,3996,373],"class_list":["post-100621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-sage-thrashers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-desert-island","tag-first-of-season","tag-first-of-year","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-lake","tag-migrate","tag-mimids-2","tag-mountain-mockingbird","tag-mud-flats","tag-mudflats","tag-oreoscoptes-montanus","tag-rock","tag-sage-thrasher","tag-thrasher","tag-thrashers","tag-warming-up","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t