{"id":55374,"date":"2018-12-21T05:38:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T12:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55374"},"modified":"2022-03-15T15:41:04","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T21:41:04","slug":"great-tailed-grackle-close-up-in-late-afternoon-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/21\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-in-late-afternoon-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Great-tailed Grackle Close Up In Late Afternoon Light"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-100788 size-full\" title=\"Great-tailed Grackle close up\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043.jpg\" alt=\"Great-tailed Grackle close up, Salt Lake 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\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Great-tailed Grackle close up &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I had an off day yesterday where a lot of things seemed to go wrong both in and out of the field. In the field I had soft shots of kestrels that should have been sharp, birds that were flushed by vehicles going by before I could even get focused, birds that disappeared the second I spotted them, shots I missed if I had been a few seconds faster or slower getting to a specific location and birds that were simply too far away. All of this stuff seems to happen now and then when I am out in the field looking for and photographing birds but yesterday morning they all happened frequently and it was kind of discouraging.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully I had one bird yesterday afternoon that came in close enough for me to take a few portraits of it before a man walking up to where I was caused the bird to fly away. I&#8217;m glad I had a few seconds to photograph this Great-tailed Grackle up close in the warm afternoon light before it was flushed and flew away.<\/p>\n<p>A few seconds was all I needed and even though I would have liked to have more time with this bird I&#8217;m delighted with this Great-tailed Grackle close up because I don&#8217;t have as many opportunities to photograph them as I would like to have.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/great-tailed-grackle-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">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":"<p>I&#8217;m glad I had a few seconds to photograph this Great-tailed Grackle up close in the warm afternoon light before it was flushed and flew away. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100788,"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":[27,426,709,26],"tags":[4004,5554,4142,4070,4779,4780,2429,1984,4046,4778,8018],"class_list":["post-55374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-great-tailed-grackles","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-afternoon-light","tag-close-up","tag-female","tag-grackle","tag-grackles","tag-great-tailed-grackle","tag-pond","tag-portrait","tag-quiscalus-mexicanus","tag-urban"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-close-up-afternoon-mia-mcpherson-6043.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ep8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55054,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/20\/female-great-tailed-grackle-portrait-in-afternoon-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":55374,"position":0},"title":"Female Great-tailed Grackle Portrait In Afternoon Light","author":"Mia 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-female-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0801.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-female-portrait-mia-mcpherson-0801.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8027,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/04\/male-boat-tailed-grackle-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":55374,"position":1},"title":"Male Boat-tailed Grackle portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Male Boat-tailed Grackles have velvety black feathers that glow in the right light with iridescence purples, blues, teals and greens.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Boat-tailed Grackle male at the Celery Fields in Sarasota County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/boat-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-7130.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/boat-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-7130.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/boat-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-7130.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61086,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/30\/male-great-tailed-grackle-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":55374,"position":2},"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, 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=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33887,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/12\/04\/the-five-oclock-great-tailed-grackle-cacophony\/","url_meta":{"origin":55374,"position":3},"title":"Five O&#8217;clock Great-tailed Grackle Cacophony","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Since the freezing temperatures arrived in my neighborhood I have been listening to a five o'clock Great-tailed Grackle cacophony nightly.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great-tailed Grackle male on a fence post at Farmington Bay WMA, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-9912.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-mia-mcpherson-9912.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-9912.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-9912.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101491,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/09\/spring-male-great-tailed-grackle-portraits\/","url_meta":{"origin":55374,"position":4},"title":"Spring Male Great-tailed Grackle Portraits","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I had fun taking spring male Great-tailed Grackle portraits because these males were displaying and not paying attention to me or my camera.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Great-tailed Grackle calling portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/great-tailed-grackle-adult-male-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5934.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/great-tailed-grackle-adult-male-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5934.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/great-tailed-grackle-adult-male-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5934.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/great-tailed-grackle-adult-male-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5934.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52241,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/24\/male-great-tailed-grackle-in-low-light-plus-battery-issues\/","url_meta":{"origin":55374,"position":5},"title":"Male Great-tailed Grackle in Low Light Plus Battery Issues","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Great-tailed Grackle in low light horizontal crop, thumbnail, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-thumbnail-1603.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-mia-mcpherson-thumbnail-1603.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-thumbnail-1603.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/great-tailed-grackle-male-mia-mcpherson-thumbnail-1603.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\/55374","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=55374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}