{"id":73405,"date":"2020-09-03T05:37:48","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T11:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=73405"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:50:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:50:28","slug":"upside-down-nashville-warbler-foraging-for-aphids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/03\/upside-down-nashville-warbler-foraging-for-aphids\/","title":{"rendered":"Upside Down Nashville Warbler Foraging For Aphids"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NashvilleNashville Warbler hanging upside down while foraging \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week I shared photos of a Nashville Warbler and I mentioned that I could finally take this species off my nemesis list. I’d taken crappy images of them before that were mostly butt shots, where the birds were mostly hidden by branches or leaves, along with unintentionally blurry photos.<\/p>\n

I’ve found that when I finally get the images of a nemesis species that I actually like, I find that getting images of that species isn’t as hard any more, and that is what has happened with Nashville Warblers.<\/p>\n

I’ve had several more opportunities with Nashville Warblers since August 25th in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> and have taken more images of this warbler species that I actually like.<\/p>\n

The same day that I photographed the rare Veery<\/span><\/a> I shared yesterday I was also able to photograph a couple of Nashville Warblers in a small willow thicket. There were times I could barely see the birds because of the leaves and branches of the willows but I could see them moving around.<\/p>\n

I wanted to share this particular image today and explain how I got this shot of an upside down male Nashville Warbler hanging on a willow branch while foraging for aphids.<\/p>\n

I could see the Nashville Warbler moving around in the willows but I had a bunch of branches in front of it which at times obstructed my view of him.<\/p>\n

When he moved to this particular branch I was able to move my lens and line the warbler up in between two very out of focus branches on the right and left side of the warbler.<\/p>\n

In this photo there are sharp and blurry looking willow leaves to the right of the warbler that are covered in aphids.<\/p>\n

A closer look reveals where the sharpness of the leaves drops off and where the other leaves start looking blurry that is where the extremely out of focus branch was in this frame when I took this image.<\/p>\n

The branch was far enough away from the warbler and from me that the edge and body of the branch seems to have disappeared. The out of focus, light colored branch created a veiled effect inside this photo.<\/p>\n

The other reason I wanted to share this Nashville Warbler image is because I adore how the warbler is hanging upside down, the photo makes me smile, and that is enough for me.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I wanted to share this particular image today and explain how I got this shot of an upside down male Nashville Warbler hanging on a willow branch while foraging for aphids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159759,"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":[27,4594,10365,26,773],"tags":[4004,10254,5552,3940,6454,10366,4062,4069,10367,2214,3888,3889,6107,902,6492],"class_list":["post-73405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-nashville-warblers","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-aphids","tag-bill","tag-canyon","tag-hanging","tag-leiothlypis-ruficapilla","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-nashville-warbler","tag-upside-down","tag-warbler","tag-warblers","tag-willow","tag-willows","tag-wood-warblers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/nashville-warbler-upside-down-in-willow-mia-mcpherson-9427.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-j5X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":73218,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/26\/finally-nashville-warbler-photos-i-am-happy-with\/","url_meta":{"origin":73405,"position":0},"title":"Finally, Nashville Warbler Photos I Am Happy With","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I was \"over the moon\" excited when I spotted an adult male Nashville Warbler out in the open at the top of a willow yesterday while up in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Nashville Warbler with aphids on his bill, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/nashville-warbler-in-willow-mia-mcpherson-6608.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/nashville-warbler-in-willow-mia-mcpherson-6608.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":"Foraging adult male Nashville Warbler, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/nashville-warbler-on-willow-mia-mcpherson-5502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/nashville-warbler-on-willow-mia-mcpherson-5502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/nashville-warbler-on-willow-mia-mcpherson-5502.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/nashville-warbler-on-willow-mia-mcpherson-5502.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The other bird I photographed that day in the high Uintas was a gorgeous male Yellow Warbler foraging in an aspen tree very close to where I sat inside a \"mobile\" blind at the edge of a dirt road.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Yellow Warbler hanging from an aspen, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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