{"id":56261,"date":"2019-02-21T06:30:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T13:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=56261"},"modified":"2023-10-17T19:21:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T01:21:15","slug":"pine-siskin-feeding-on-musk-thistle-close-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/21\/pine-siskin-feeding-on-musk-thistle-close-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Pine Siskin Feeding On Musk Thistle Close Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PinePine Siskin feeding on Musk Thistle – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve been meaning to share this close up photo of a Pine Siskin feeding on Musk Thistle since last summer and since today is a good as day as any, here it is. It was the middle of August and I was up in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains sitting and waiting for birds to come in when I saw this siskin fly in from my right to land on a nearby bush, the siskin practically turned itself upside down to clean its bill and I was having a hard time photographing it because my window frame was preventing me from getting good, sharp shots. I was a bit frustrated because those images would have shown some great behavior.<\/p>\n

To my surprise the Pine Siskin lifted off from the bush and landed right in front of me and started feeding on the seeds of a Musk Thistle. It took me a few seconds to change my aperture because I want more depth of field for a bird as close as this siskin was and then I focused and took several images before the siskin took off. I didn’t notice until after I took my eye away from the viewfinder that there was another siskin below and to the right of this one and by the time I tried to photograph it that siskin also took off.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure I have ever been as close to a Pine Siskin as I was to this one before, I’m glad this siskin decided to delight me with its presence even though it was just for a very brief time.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Pine Siskin photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my wildflower photos along with shrubs and trees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m not sure I have ever been as close to a Pine Siskin as I was to this one before, I’m glad this siskin decided to delight me with its presence even though it was just for a very brief time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117174,"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":[27,4594,1210,26,773],"tags":[3940,4299,6623,4142,4040,4069,6622,3493,6103,6104,2315,6626],"class_list":["post-56261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-pine-siskins","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-canyon","tag-carduelis-pinus","tag-carduus-nutans","tag-close-up","tag-feeding","tag-mountains","tag-musk-thistle","tag-pine-siskin","tag-siskin","tag-siskins","tag-summer-3","tag-thistle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pine-siskin-thistle-feeding-mia-mcpherson-5895.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eDr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91816,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/07\/08\/surprise-pine-siskin\/","url_meta":{"origin":56261,"position":0},"title":"Surprise 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pine-siskin-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9195.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pine-siskin-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9195.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pine-siskin-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9195.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pine-siskin-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9195.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":72647,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/12\/pine-siskin-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":56261,"position":2},"title":"Pine Siskin In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The bird activity picked up just after the sun rose over the mountains peaks and as I scanned the area for birds I spotted this Pine Siskin almost directly in front of me clinging to a small branch.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pine Siskin clinging to a small branch, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pine-siskin-clinging-to-branch-mia-mcpherson-9616.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pine-siskin-clinging-to-branch-mia-mcpherson-9616.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pine-siskin-clinging-to-branch-mia-mcpherson-9616.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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