{"id":70861,"date":"2020-06-13T05:45:03","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T11:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=70861"},"modified":"2025-09-09T05:51:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T10:51:51","slug":"one-male-lazuli-bunting-sage-and-a-wire-fence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/13\/one-male-lazuli-bunting-sage-and-a-wire-fence\/","title":{"rendered":"One Male Lazuli Bunting, Sage And A Wire Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Male Lazuli Bunting perched on a metal fence – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/4000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago I traveled north to find birds and I found an abundance of them to photograph and observe through my viewfinder. Yesterday I shared some of the Say’s Phoebes<\/span><\/a> images that I took while I was up north.<\/p>\n

Among the other birds I saw and photographed were Lazuli Buntings. At first most of the buntings I saw were flitting around in the sage or they were singing<\/span><\/a> way off in the distance while perched on hackberry trees. One bunting flew in close and landed on top of a tree but because it was at a poor angle I was only able to observe the bright blue male and I wasn’t able to photograph it. I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to be able to take any close up images of the buntings that were all around me.<\/p>\n

When I spotted this sharp-looking, adult male Lazuli Bunting less than 30 feet away from where I sat in a mobile blind on the side of the road I almost jumped with joy. I didn’t even mind that the bunting was on a metal fence, I was simply elated that he was there, that I was able to lock focus on him, and that I was able to take a short series of photos of him before he took cover in the sage that is shown in the background of this photo.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Lazuli Bunting about to lift off – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/4000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As much as I wish that the male Lazuli Bunting would have stayed longer than he did I was pleased that twenty-three photos I took of him were sharp and that there were only five of them where he had turned his head away from me.<\/p>\n

These photos of the male Lazuli Bunting were just one of the birdy highlights of my morning. More to come!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

When I spotted this sharp-looking, adult male Lazuli Bunting less than 30 feet away from where I sat in a mobile blind on the side of the road I almost jumped with joy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154990,"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":[27,1148,380,26],"tags":[4004,6530,5817,4098,3830,1828,4282,4062,10056,4270,4104,2817,4057],"class_list":["post-70861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-lazuli-buntings","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bunting","tag-buntings","tag-desert","tag-fence","tag-lazuli-bunting","tag-lift-off","tag-male","tag-metal-fence","tag-passerina-amoena","tag-perched","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-fence-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-4509.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-iqV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":71957,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/15\/male-lazuli-buntings-photographed-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":70861,"position":0},"title":"Male Lazuli Buntings Photographed In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past week I have had the pleasure of photographing male Lazuli Buntings high in the Wasatch Mountains in several different settings.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lazuli Bunting male perched in tall grasses, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1633,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/12\/15\/lazuli-bunting-males\/","url_meta":{"origin":70861,"position":1},"title":"Lazuli Bunting Males","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Male Lazuli Buntings resemble bluebirds but they are smaller and the blues are a different hue than the Mountain, Eastern and Western Bluebirds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lazuli Bunting male perched on Greasewood, San Rafael Swell, Emery County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-pigweed-4407.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-pigweed-4407.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-pigweed-4407.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-pigweed-4407.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53621,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/08\/17\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-perched-on-a-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":70861,"position":2},"title":"Lazuli Bunting Juvenile Perched On A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though the sun was high I couldn't resist photographing a juvenile Lazuli Bunting that flew in and perched on a Utah Serviceberry branch because to my eye the setting was both enchanting and very appealing.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Lazuli Bunting perched on a serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5325.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5325.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5325.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5325.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53812,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/08\/26\/lazuli-buntings-in-serviceberry-trees-fattening-up-before-migration\/","url_meta":{"origin":70861,"position":4},"title":"Lazuli Buntings In Serviceberry Trees – Fattening Up Before Migration","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to photograph male, female and immature Lazuli Buntings as they have been gorging on the fruits of Serviceberry trees to fatten up before their migration.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Lazuli Bunting in a Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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