{"id":104120,"date":"2022-07-11T04:21:13","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T10:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=104120"},"modified":"2023-06-19T14:46:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T20:46:40","slug":"my-great-two-bunting-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/11\/my-great-two-bunting-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"My Great Two Bunting Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Lazuli Bunting perched on a willow branch \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Late last week I headed up into the Wasatch Mountains to look for birds in cooler temps and had a great time photographing two bunting species before 8 am. First a male Lazuli Bunting in his finest breeding plumage landed on a willow branch close to where I had parked next to the road.<\/p>\n

\"InquisitiveInquisitive adult male Lazuli Bunting \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

His brilliant blue head dazzled my eyes as I looked at him through my viewfinder and fired off a long burst of images. The sound of my camera seemed to draw his attention towards me.<\/p>\n

\"SummerSummer male Lazuli Bunting \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When the male Lazuli Bunting turned on the branch he gave me wonderful views of the blue feathers on his back, wings, rump and tail feathers too.<\/p>\n

A few seconds after I took this photo the male bunting lifted off from the willow branch with his back to me.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Lazuli Bunting perched on a big stick \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I was delighted and surprised when the Lazuli Bunting landed out in the open on a big stick in front of me. The cut edge of this stick was left by the sharp teeth of the beavers in this area.<\/p>\n

\"LazuliLazuli Bunting male high in the Wasatch Mountains – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I fired off another long burst of images as the male bunting perched on the stick. The light I had at the time was terrific and helped to show off this beautiful bunting’s colorful plumage.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Lazuli Bunting perched on one foot – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As I photographed this male Lazuli Bunting I could hear the song of another bunting species. It was a song I vividly recalled from many years prior when I used to take my sons out to find buntings back east. A song I heard often in my garden in Virginia.<\/p>\n

\"IndigoIndigo Bunting male feeding on grass seeds – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

That song I kept hearing was from a male Indigo Bunting, a bunting species that is uncommon to northern Utah. I had seen and photographed this male two days prior to when these images were taken but my photos on that day were from a very long distance and the bunting was mostly hidden in foliage.<\/p>\n

When I took this image of the Indigo Bunting I had grasses between my lens and the bird. I could see the rich blue plumage of his plumage though the veil of grasses. The Indigo sang<\/span><\/a> even as he plucked seeds from the grasses and ate them.<\/p>\n

\"SingingSinging male Indigo Bunting in the Wasatch Mountains – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The song of this bunting was a delight to my ears and when he left the grasses he flew across the creek and sang out in the open.<\/p>\n

I was so happy to see this Indigo Bunting twice last week. Seeing him brought back many wonderful memories of trips into the field with my sons William and Christopher and from when they nested in our garden. What a joy.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Late last week I headed up into the Wasatch Mountains to look for birds in cooler temps and had a great time photographing two bunting species before 8 am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,13046,380,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,4897,4053,6530,5817,3940,13048,6780,1828,4062,4069,4270,13047,4104,9626,2315],"class_list":["post-104120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-indigo-buntings","category-lazuli-buntings","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-branch","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-bunting","tag-buntings","tag-canyon","tag-indigo-bunting","tag-inquisitive","tag-lazuli-bunting","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-passerina-amoena","tag-passerina-cyanea","tag-perched","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-3912.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-r5m","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":104335,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/17\/lazuli-bunting-male\/","url_meta":{"origin":104120,"position":0},"title":"Lazuli Bunting Male – Small In Frame","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I shared so many images yesterday that today I am keeping it simple with one image of a Lazuli Bunting male I photographed high in the Wasatch Mountains last week.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lazuli Bunting male in the Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5325.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5325.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Lazuli Bunting perched on a serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104539,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/26\/juvenile-lazuli-bunting-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":104120,"position":3},"title":"Juvenile Lazuli Bunting Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I had fun taking juvenile Lazuli Bunting images as several of these young birds rested and moved around eating grass seeds for breakfast.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Lazuli Bunting eating grass seeds, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8076.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"August 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"One year ago today I was up in the Wasatch Mountains photographing pre-migration Lazuli Buntings fattening on the fruits of serviceberries and most of them were either immature or female buntings.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Lazuli Bunting foraging in a serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6291.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6291.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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