{"id":61289,"date":"2019-11-08T05:45:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T12:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=61289"},"modified":"2024-11-16T10:30:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T16:30:26","slug":"mountain-chickadees-are-fun-but-challenging-to-photograph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/11\/08\/mountain-chickadees-are-fun-but-challenging-to-photograph\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Chickadees Are Fun But Challenging To Photograph"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MountainMountain Chickadee with a seed in its bill \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 800, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I spent a few minutes photographing Mountain Chickadees foraging in Douglas Fir trees which was a lot of fun but challenging too. Mountain Chickadees test my skills because they move fast as they forage and move even more quickly when they take off. They simply don’t stay still for long.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert Mountain Chickadee with a fir seed \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 800, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the challenges when photographing this species is that the high contrast of their black, gray and white plumage can be a challenge to expose properly. Every time I photograph Mountain Chickadees I take into consideration the angle and intensity of the available light, the brightness or darkness of the background and features that are on the same focal plane as the bird because each of those items can and do help me to decide where to set my exposure compensation.<\/p>\n

\"MountainMountain Chickadee foraging in a Douglas Fir \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 800, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Mountain Chickadees move in and out of view rapidly and trying to keep up with them can be fun, dizzying or both simultaneously. They pop out into the open just as quickly as they disappear into the branches and foliage which means that I have to be focused on them all<\/em> the time or I will miss the photos I want to take. Even when fully focused on them I have missed plenty of what could have been wonderful shots.<\/p>\n

\"AngryAngry looking Mountain Chickadee \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 800, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Normally I wouldn’t care for a photo where I can’t see a catch light in my subject’s eyes but this Mountain Chickadee with a seed in its bill photo I took yesterday morning made me laugh out loud when I saw it on my monitor at home because the chickadee looks a little angry. Soon I had all kinds of captions going through my mind, one of them was “what chu lookin at?” and I laughed again.<\/p>\n

\"ForagingForaging Mountain Chickadee up close \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 800, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mountain Chickadees were only in my view for a few minutes yesterday morning and trying to keep up with them kept me on my toes as a bird photographer but I enjoyed the fun despite the challenges of the lighting and how speedy these little birds are.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Yesterday morning I spent a few minutes photographing Mountain Chickadees foraging in Douglas Fir trees which was a lot of fun but challenging too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136954,"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":[27,2782,1316,358,26,1314],"tags":[6273,6274,7708,6879,6877,4040,4136,2780,2779,6878,7707,7706,2135,4076],"class_list":["post-61289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-mountain-chickadees","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-chickadee","tag-chickadees","tag-cone","tag-cones","tag-douglas-fir","tag-feeding","tag-foraging","tag-mountain-chickadee","tag-poecile-gambeli","tag-pseudotsuga-menziesii","tag-pseudotsuga-menziesii-var-glauca","tag-rocky-mountain-douglas-fir","tag-seeds","tag-trees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/mountain-chickadee-with-seed-mia-mcpherson-9470.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fWx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61515,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/11\/19\/focusing-on-photographing-foraging-mountain-chickadees\/","url_meta":{"origin":61289,"position":0},"title":"Focusing 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