{"id":4699,"date":"2012-03-31T06:40:20","date_gmt":"2012-03-31T12:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4699"},"modified":"2025-12-12T05:19:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T11:19:34","slug":"lesson-learned-beyond-the-viewfinder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/03\/31\/lesson-learned-beyond-the-viewfinder\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson Learned – Beyond The Viewfinder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WesternWestern Meadowlark on a boulder – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I was focused on photographing this Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta<\/em>) that was perched on a boulder with the Great Salt Lake below it in the background. I had nice light, a lovely setting plus the bird seemed more interested in singing than my presence.<\/p>\n

Western Meadowlarks are beautiful songsters and their call is one that makes me think of cool spring mornings and how much I enjoy my early morning \u00a0journeys into the natural world. They are handsome birds too.<\/p>\n

As I focused\u00a0this bird\u00a0I noticed some movement at the bottom of my viewfinder, there was a large tan, out of focus\u00a0blob that appeared to be moving towards the Meadowlark.<\/p>\n

It was a little confusing at first until I moved the viewfinder away from my eyes a bit and saw a Chukar moving up towards the same\u00a0boulder the Meadowlark was singing from.<\/p>\n

\"II call Chukars “Rock Hoppers” – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 285mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chukar was so close that I had to very quickly back up my zoom to fit the whole bird in. It was about the same moment the Chukar noticed my presence and it started moving down the boulder towards the grasses instead of making the climb to the top.<\/p>\n

\"ChukarChukar in rocky habitat – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 285mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn’t have time to change my exposure compensation which had been set for the Meadowlark perched with the blue of the Great Salt Lake behind it and I knew that these images might be slightly over exposed.<\/p>\n

Fortunately I was able to reduce the exposure in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) easily.<\/p>\n

I could tell I loved the background through my viewfinder, the large boulder was far enough away that I didn’t need to worry about it being in focus but it still showed the lovely colors and textures of the rock.<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis Chukar looks sneaky – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 285mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chukar didn’t seem to be in a great hurry so I was able to get a series of images as it carefully made its way down the boulder. I liked that I could see the red legs, spurs and dark toenails in this frame.<\/p>\n

\"ChukarsChukars Rock! – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 285mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As the bird moved closer to the ground I noticed how fresh it plumage was and the beautiful but subtle coloration along the back and wings.<\/p>\n

\"ChukarChukar trying to sneak by – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 285mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Had I not seen that moving, tan blob beyond my viewfinder I could have easily missed being able to create these Chukar images. Sure, I have hundreds (if not thousands) of Chukar<\/span><\/a> images but I am always looking for different poses, light conditions, and settings to photograph my subjects in and this worked out very well.<\/p>\n

Lesson Learned… Look beyond the viewfinder at times!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Had I not seen that moving, tan blob beyond my viewfinder I could have easily missed being able to create these Chukar images. Sure, I have hundreds (if not thousands) of Chukar images but I am always looking for different poses, light conditions and settings to photograph my subjects in and this worked out very well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":165085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,442,1022,26,371],"tags":[4004,4146,4138,445,9306,11978,4005,9305,4824,4825,4921,17006,4061,401,9881,4308],"class_list":["post-4699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-chukars","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","category-western-meadowlarks","tag-adult","tag-alectoris-chukar","tag-boulder","tag-chukar","tag-climbing-down","tag-desert-island","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-lesson","tag-meadowlark","tag-meadowlarks","tag-rock","tag-sneaky","tag-sturnella-neglecta","tag-upland-game-birds","tag-viewfinder","tag-western-meadowlark"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/chukar-mia-mcpherson-0663.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1dN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4415,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/02\/16\/western-meadowlarks-and-spring\/","url_meta":{"origin":4699,"position":0},"title":"Western Meadowlarks And Spring","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Tis the season of changes, for a bit it acts like winter and soon switches to act like spring. . The flute like call of Western Meadowlarks is a sound I associate with spring and lately I have been hearing them quite often.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Meadowlark on a boulder with the Great Salt Lake in the background, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-3250.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-3250.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-mia-mcpherson-3250.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"September 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This Western Meadowlark was about to take off from the boulder it was on when I photographed it on Wednesday.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Meadowlark about to fly, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-utah-mia-mcpherson-5656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-utah-mia-mcpherson-5656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landing Western Meadowlark, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-landing-mia-mcpherson-2381.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-landing-mia-mcpherson-2381.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-landing-mia-mcpherson-2381.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/western-meadowlark-landing-mia-mcpherson-2381.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The song of this Western Meadowlark that I found two days ago on Antelope Island State Park was a wonderful springtime melody that I needed to hear.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Meadowlark singing in spring, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/western-meadowlark-spring-song-mia-mcpherson-4421.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/western-meadowlark-spring-song-mia-mcpherson-4421.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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