{"id":54104,"date":"2018-09-13T05:07:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T11:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54104"},"modified":"2023-01-11T17:43:13","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T00:43:13","slug":"woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-in-the-stansbury-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/13\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-in-the-stansbury-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay Portrait in the Stansbury Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It isn&#8217;t often that I am able to get close enough to a Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay that my only option is to take closeup portraits of them <em>yet<\/em> that is precisely what happened to me two days ago. In fact this has never happened to me before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-109535 size-full\" title=\"Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay portrait in junipers\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845.jpg\" alt=\"Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay portrait in junipers, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay portrait in junipers &#8211; Nikon D500, f10, 1\/320, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m certain I could get a shot like this at a feeder but I very rarely photograph at feeders so this was a rare occurrence for me. I do wish that the bright, out of focus juniper branch at the left side of the frame hadn&#8217;t been there because I feel it draws my eye away from the scrub-jay momentarily and that the sun hadn&#8217;t been quite so high.<\/p>\n<p>Still, I love looking at this Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay&#8217;s eye, feathers and even the rictal bristles near the bill. The out of focus juniper in the background does not bother me nor does the patch of blue sky at the upper left side of the frame.<\/p>\n<p>This bird was so close that I thought my images of it might be not quite sharp because I thought it might be closer to me than the minimum focusing distance of my lens but I think it was just outside of that limit since the bird is quite sharp.<\/p>\n<p>Who knows, maybe I will get luckier the next time I have a Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay fly in so close.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It isn&#8217;t often that I am able to get close enough to a Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay that my only option is to take closeup portraits of them yet that is precisely what happened to me two days ago. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109535,"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":[27,1316,358,26,1314,2710],"tags":[4004,2712,4142,6792,2714,4674,4046,6794,6793,5264,2711],"class_list":["post-54104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-woodhouses-scrub-jays","tag-adult","tag-aphelocoma-woodhouseii","tag-close-up","tag-jay","tag-jays","tag-junipers","tag-portrait","tag-rictal-bristles","tag-scrub-jay","tag-scrub-jays","tag-woodhouses-scrub-jay"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-portrait-junipr-mia-mcpherson-7845.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-e4E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118743,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/05\/another-scrub-jay-name-change-in-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":54104,"position":0},"title":"Another Scrub-Jay Name Change in 2024","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Lately, I've been wondering what the new name for the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay species, that I photograph here in Utah, will be when it is changed in 2024.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay on a juniper, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/western-scrub-jay-juniper-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-9192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/western-scrub-jay-juniper-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-9192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/western-scrub-jay-juniper-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-9192.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/western-scrub-jay-juniper-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-9192.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34915,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/18\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-in-ophir-canyon\/","url_meta":{"origin":54104,"position":1},"title":"Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay in Ophir Canyon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays in Ophir Canyon Road in Tooele County were the most cooperative of the jays that I found.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay perched on a snow covered Pinyon Pine, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-4453.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-4453.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-4453.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-4453.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109561,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/12\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-with-different-backgrounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":54104,"position":2},"title":"Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay With Different Backgrounds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I'm sharing two photos of the same Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay perched in the West Desert on the same juniper with two different backgrounds.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay with mountains in the background, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-on-juniper-mia-mcpherson-9161.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-on-juniper-mia-mcpherson-9161.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-on-juniper-mia-mcpherson-9161.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-on-juniper-mia-mcpherson-9161.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74511,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/09\/kinglets-and-turkeys-plus-one-scrub-jay\/","url_meta":{"origin":54104,"position":3},"title":"Kinglets And Turkeys Plus One Scrub-Jay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Wild Turkeys and the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay made the very bumpy and extremely dusty ride into the mountain canyons well worth taking.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woodhouse\u2019s Scrub-Jay in the West Desert, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-in-juniper-mia-mcpherson-5214.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-in-juniper-mia-mcpherson-5214.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-in-juniper-mia-mcpherson-5214.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-in-juniper-mia-mcpherson-5214.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119598,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/10\/urban-birds-woodhouses-scrub-jay\/","url_meta":{"origin":54104,"position":4},"title":"Urban Birds &#8211; Woodhouse&#8217;s Scrub-Jay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Three years ago today, I photographed this adult Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay from my living room window. The jay was in a neighbor's spruce tree across the street.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay in a spruce tree, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/western-scrub-jay-urban-tree-mia-mcpherson-5094.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/western-scrub-jay-urban-tree-mia-mcpherson-5094.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/western-scrub-jay-urban-tree-mia-mcpherson-5094.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/western-scrub-jay-urban-tree-mia-mcpherson-5094.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40401,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/08\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-a-familiar-bird-with-a-new-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":54104,"position":5},"title":"Woodhouse\u2019s Scrub-Jay &#8211; A Familiar Bird with a New Name","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The long-awaited Scrub-Jay split has officially happened! Western Scrub-Jay can be crossed out in a our fields guides and the two new names California Scrub-Jay and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay can be penciled in.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Woodhouse\u2019s Scrub-Jay adult, Cascade Springs, Wasatch National Forest, Wasatch County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-9728.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-9728.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-9728.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/western-scrub-jay-adult-mia-mcpherson-9728.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}