{"id":58997,"date":"2019-07-15T05:01:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T11:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=58997"},"modified":"2025-10-10T19:12:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T00:12:02","slug":"messy-looking-orange-crowned-warbler-foraging-in-willows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/15\/messy-looking-orange-crowned-warbler-foraging-in-willows\/","title":{"rendered":"Messy Looking Orange-crowned Warbler Foraging In Willows"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MessyMessy looking Orange-crowned Warbler – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve been looking for Orange-crowned Warblers in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> to get better images of them this year and so far my best chance has been with this messy looking one I saw and photographed yesterday.<\/p>\n

When I first saw it the warbler was obscured by willow leaves and branches and I thought it was a juvenile Yellow Warbler at first but then it showed more of its face and I realized that it was an Orange-crowned Warbler.<\/p>\n

Of the 48 images I took of this fast moving warbler I only had eye contact with catch lights in 5 of the images. In three of those there was a bright willow leaf in front of the warbler’s body that I found extremely distracting which left this image and one almost exactly like it that were acceptable to my tastes even though the background is rather cluttered looking.<\/p>\n

The “clutter” though is natural habitat and since there is nothing in front of the bird it still stands out well.<\/p>\n

Now I know that some professional bird photographers would blur the background even more in post processing but that seems disingenuous to me so I don’t and won’t do that.<\/p>\n

About the Orange-crowned Warbler’s messy appearance… there was water nearby and I suppose the warbler could have bathed before I took this image which could account for the unkempt feathers or it could be a frazzled looking because it is busy feeding chicks and has little time for taking care of its plumage.<\/p>\n

I just can’t say for certain but I have photographed and shared photos of messier looking birds in the past so sharing this one doesn’t seem so strange; after all, birds and their feathers do get messy.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I’ve been looking for Orange-crowned Warblers in the Wasatch Mountains to get better images of them this year and so far my best chance has been with this messy looking one I saw and photographed yesterday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159819,"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":[27,6695,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,3940,4136,6693,6022,4069,6694,4104,2315,6725,3888,3889,902],"class_list":["post-58997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-orange-crowned-warblers","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-canyon","tag-foraging","tag-leiothlypis-celata","tag-messy","tag-mountains","tag-orange-crowned-warbler","tag-perched","tag-summer-3","tag-thicket","tag-warbler","tag-warblers","tag-willows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/orange-crowned-warbler-in-willows-mia-mcpherson-9660.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-flz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93039,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/07\/messy-orange-crowned-warbler-plus-canada-thistles\/","url_meta":{"origin":58997,"position":0},"title":"Messy Orange-crowned Warbler Plus Canada Thistles","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"My subject was actually a slightly messy Orange-crowned Warbler perched on a branch looking down at the ground.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Damp Orange-crowned Warbler near Canada Thistles, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/orange-crowned-warbler-lettuce-from-hell-mia-mcpherson-2380.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/orange-crowned-warbler-lettuce-from-hell-mia-mcpherson-2380.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Orange-crowned Warbler with its orange crown visible, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/orange-crowned-warbler-crown-showing-mia-mcpherson-1184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/orange-crowned-warbler-crown-showing-mia-mcpherson-1184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/orange-crowned-warbler-crown-showing-mia-mcpherson-1184.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/orange-crowned-warbler-crown-showing-mia-mcpherson-1184.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Serviceberries","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This Orange-crowned Warbler was only in my viewfinder for about a minute but she gave me great views and quite a few different poses to photograph and I was delighted with the photos I took.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging Orange-crowned Warbler, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/orange-crowned-warbler-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-7797.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/orange-crowned-warbler-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-7797.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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