{"id":52241,"date":"2018-05-24T05:15:07","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T11:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=52241"},"modified":"2022-03-15T15:28:09","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T21:28:09","slug":"male-great-tailed-grackle-in-low-light-plus-battery-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/24\/male-great-tailed-grackle-in-low-light-plus-battery-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Great-tailed Grackle in Low Light Plus Battery Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Great-tailed Grackle in low light – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/125, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though the light yesterday morning wasn’t optimal for bird photography I took my Mom to the Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a> area to show her around there, we only made it as far as Glover Pond though. In total I took all of ten images yesterday and they were all of this male Great-tailed Grackle in low light conditions and he was so close I had to turn my camera to a vertical position and I still couldn’t fit the whole bird in because of its long tail. The grackle was only there for a few seconds before a car going past it flushed it and and the bird flew off of the fence post. The photo is nearly full frame.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Great-tailed Grackle in low light horizontal crop – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/125, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

And this is the same photo but I cropped it horizontally and tighter on just the bird’s head and upper chest. I kind of like this portrait better than the one above. I readily admit though that I tend to like portraits of birds and other wildlife because of the focus on the subject’s eyes and all the fine details that are visible in portraits.<\/p>\n

So, on to my “battery issues”… I’m not talking about camera battery issues although one might think that because I mentioned that I only took ten images yesterday. It was battery issue with my Jeep, again. I stopped the Jeep with the passenger side facing Glover Pond so my Mom could take some photos of the pond, the clouds and some of the birds nearby with her cell phone and when she was done I turned the key to head down the road. Nothing, no click, no dashboard lights, nada, zip. Mom’s window was down and it looked like it might rain at any time and without electricity the power windows don’t go back up.<\/p>\n

I ended up calling AAA and within 20 minutes Wes from AAA was there to give us a jump. This isn’t the first time this has happened with this Jeep, I had the battery replaced in late November of 2017, and about six months before that and about 9 months before that and about 6 months before that. Yes, that is four new batteries. The alternator is always fine,\u00a0 the problem is that the batteries go bad. I think there is a parasitic draw somewhere that is causing these dead batteries.<\/p>\n

A friend stopped by before AAA got there and offered to jump my Jeep, thank you! You know who you are \ud83d\ude42 If AAA hadn’t already been on their way your thoughtful offer could have helped me out a lot.<\/p>\n

Thankfully yesterday I had a cell signal, was close to town and was on the road very quickly all things considered. I drove back to Salt Lake City, dropped my Mom and gear off at home and headed to Auto Zone where they tested the battery, decided the battery was the problem, swapped it out because it was covered under the warranty, tested the alternator and determined that it was fine and I headed to the grocery store and then back home. I need to have a mechanic figure this one out, I just don’t like the idea of getting stranded way out in the desert or high up in the mountains where I don’t have a cell signal to call for help.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Even when batteries fail.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Even though the light yesterday morning wasn’t optimal for bird photography I took my Mom to the Farmington Bay WMA area to show her around there, we only made it as far as Glover Pond though. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100794,"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":[27,1022,697,426,26],"tags":[4004,6516,3483,715,4779,4780,2429,156,4062,1984,4778,165,4095],"class_list":["post-52241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-great-tailed-grackles","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-black-bird","tag-blackbirds","tag-glover-pond","tag-grackle","tag-grackles","tag-great-tailed-grackle","tag-low-light-2","tag-male","tag-pond","tag-quiscalus-mexicanus","tag-spring","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-thumbnail-1603.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dAB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61086,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/30\/male-great-tailed-grackle-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":52241,"position":0},"title":"Male Great-tailed Grackle Portraits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't often get to have Great-tailed Grackles in my viewfinder let alone have them close enough to take portraits of them so when the opportunity presents itself, I jump at the chance.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Great-tailed Grackle portrait with grass in the background, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-close-up-in-grass-mia-mcpherson-5124.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-close-up-in-grass-mia-mcpherson-5124.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"November 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This female Great-tailed Grackle was the first bird I photographed yesterday and she was so close to me that I opted to take portraits of her in the nice afternoon light at my local pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Great-tailed Grackle portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-female-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0801.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-female-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0801.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"March 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was walking around my local pond three days ago I enjoyed having a male Great-tailed Grackle in my viewfinder for a bit. 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