{"id":112318,"date":"2023-04-10T03:34:17","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T09:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=112318"},"modified":"2023-04-10T03:34:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T09:34:45","slug":"mix-of-urban-birds-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/10\/mix-of-urban-birds-close-to-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Mix Of Urban Birds Close To Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

This mix of urban birds were taken over a two day period close to home. Birds, no matter where they are, bring me joy, happiness, and even laughter.<\/p>\n

\"Red-wingedRed-winged Blackbird on the edge of a pond \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This cooperative Red-winged Blackbird male photo is full frame and resized for web presentation. It takes skill to walk up to a blackbird and have it stick around for a photo like this. The water in the background was a perfect foil for his dark plumage.<\/p>\n

\"SavannahSavannah Sparrow in front of snow \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On a day right after the big snowstorm here in northern Utah, this Savannah Sparrow was out and about looking for food. The white in front of the small sparrow was snow.<\/p>\n

\"SavannahSavannah Sparrow in urban habitat \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/640, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The next day I was able to walk right up to two Savannah Sparrows in a tree and take frame filling images of them both.<\/p>\n

\"Double-crestedDouble-crested Cormorant splashy landing \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Having Double-crested Cormorants nearby give me loads of opportunities to photograph them. I see them hunting for food, sunbathing, preening, swimming, taking off, flying over and landing on the water.<\/p>\n

\"NeighborhoodNeighborhood immature Sharp-shinned Hawk \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I found this immature Sharp-shinned Hawk resting on a basketball backstop just a few houses up the street from where I live. The backstop isn’t pretty but the hawk sure is.<\/p>\n

\"UrbanUrban Redhead drake portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f10, 1\/640, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the ducks I see in the winter have taken off for their breeding season but this Redhead and his mate have stuck around. I was photographing another bird when this Redhead drake swam up and got out of the water. It was so close to me I didn’t know if I could focus on him but this portrait turned out well.<\/p>\n

\"RedheadRedhead drake stinkeye \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f10, 1\/640, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And then there was this photo of the drake where it looked like he was giving me the old stinkeye. Maybe he was just hamming it up for the camera. In reality, he was simply preening.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Robin in Darth Vader mode \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then a pair of American Robins walked up to me while I stood at the edge of a pond. This male robin looked so “helmeted” that I couldn’t help but think of Darth Vader from Star Wars.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Robin getting close \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/800, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The robin also walked up so close to me that I could only take portraits of it. The pair of robins seemed determined to find breakfast and didn’t seem to care that I was there.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Robin looking for food close up \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/800, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After I took this photo the robin got so close to me that I couldn’t focus on him. He walked just to the right of my tripod foot which was just two feet away from my own foot.<\/p>\n

\"SpringSpring female American Robin portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the female American Robin walked up for her portrait. She wasn’t quite as brave as the male and dashed away soon after this photo was taken.<\/p>\n

These birds, and others, were tons of fun to photograph close to home.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my bird photos in their galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This mix of urban birds were taken over a two day period close to home. Birds, no matter where they are, bring me joy, happiness, and even laughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112325,"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":[456,27,144,419,2460,709,831,5394,26],"tags":[10402,5396,5397,4004,4151,2427,2461,13819,3813,3483,6577,4966,4142,5548,5200,5881,149,4483,1129,126,7037,683,4169,4067,4123,4062,4173,10879,10698,4194,4104,1984,4046,153,4324,4560,8118,6642,5199,229,5395,4018,4043,4050,855,4195,6978,13818,165,13820,3844,4881,4427,1048,8018,3996,5123,2063,4193],"class_list":["post-112318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-robins","category-avian","category-double-crested-cormorant","category-red-winged-blackbirds","category-redheads","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-savannah-sparrows","category-sharp-shinned-hawks","category-utah","tag-accipiter","tag-accipiter-striatus","tag-accipiters","tag-adult","tag-agelaius-phoeniceus","tag-american-robin","tag-aythya-americana","tag-basketball-backstop","tag-blackbird","tag-blackbirds","tag-branches","tag-cattail","tag-close-up","tag-cormorant","tag-cormorants","tag-curb","tag-double-crested-cormorant","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-edge","tag-habitat-2","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-landing","tag-male","tag-nannopterum-auritus","tag-neighborhood","tag-park","tag-passerculus-sandwichensis","tag-perched","tag-pond","tag-portrait","tag-raptors","tag-red-winged-blackbird","tag-redhead","tag-redheads","tag-robin","tag-robins","tag-savannah-sparrow","tag-sharp-shinned-hawk","tag-sky","tag-small-in-frame","tag-snow","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-splash","tag-splashy","tag-spring","tag-stinkeye","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-tree","tag-turdus-migratorius","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterbirds","tag-waterfowl","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/double-crested-cormorant-landing-on-pnd-mia-mcpherson-1583.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-tdA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":117036,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/14\/autumn-sharp-shinned-hawk-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":112318,"position":0},"title":"Autumn 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Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I was so happy to photograph this mixture of spring birds at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge that I had a hard time picking out which birds and which photos to share.","rel":"","context":"In "American Pipits"","block_context":{"text":"American Pipits","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/mimids\/american-pipits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clark's Grebe adult swimming on the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-river-mia-mcpherson-6561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-river-mia-mcpherson-6561.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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