{"id":138670,"date":"2025-01-11T02:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T08:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=138670"},"modified":"2025-07-07T10:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:27:16","slug":"superb-rusty-blackbird-in-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/11\/superb-rusty-blackbird-in-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"Superb Rusty Blackbird In Snow!"},"content":{"rendered":"

When my day starts with snow, an owl hooting in the pitch dark, and a smile on my face, I expect magic. Yesterday, that magic was a Rusty Blackbird in the snow.<\/p>\n

\"LowLow light Rusty Blackbird in snowy conditions \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f7.1, 1\/250, ISO 1000, +2.3 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 371mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Hearing the owl hooting before the sun came up was why I was smiling. Any day I hear, see, or photograph owls is a great day.<\/p>\n

My day got even better when I spotted a dark bird-shaped form on the snow in the low light. I scoped the bird with my lens, and my pulse started racing.<\/p>\n

A Rusty Blackbird was moving toward the seed feeder, and I got busy trying to keep the blackbird in focus while taking photos as it moved toward me through the snow.<\/p>\n

I am fairly certain this Rusty Blackbird is an adult female. But, if I am wrong, please don’t hesitate to correct me. I want to learn.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to expose birds in snow properly, or the images can turn out poorly. My White Balance was set to Auto, and I bumped my exposure setting up to +2.3 so the snow appeared white, not gray, and the bird was well-exposed.<\/p>\n

I took hundreds of images of this Rusty Blackbird because it was only my second time seeing this species through my viewfinder. My first time was in northern Utah a few years ago<\/a><\/span>. I\u2019m certain I will share more photos of this bird another day.<\/p>\n

Rusty Blackbirds have become uncommon, even within their normal range, because this species is in serious decline. Their populations have dropped by 85% to 98% over the past 40 years.<\/p>\n

Having this Rusty Blackbird drop by during a snow event in Arkansas felt magical to me. I hope to see more of these blackbirds soon!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see my Rusty Blackbird photo gallery plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When my day starts with snow, an owl hooting in the pitch dark, and a smile on my face, I expect magic. Yesterday, that magic was a Rusty Blackbird in the snow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138667,"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":[13950,10688,13951],"tags":[3813,3483,16155,10689,13981,4136,13931,156,16154,10690,4050,4509,4899,4328,15824,373,13966],"class_list":["post-138670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-rusty-blackbirds","category-sebastian-county","tag-blackbird","tag-blackbirds","tag-conditions","tag-euphagus-carolinus","tag-feeder","tag-foraging","tag-garden","tag-low-light-2","tag-probable-female","tag-rusty-blackbird","tag-snow","tag-snow-storm","tag-snowstorm","tag-snowy","tag-suburban","tag-winter","tag-yard"],"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