{"id":73824,"date":"2020-09-17T05:41:21","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T11:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=73824"},"modified":"2025-11-07T07:26:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:26:26","slug":"adult-sage-thrasher-regurgitating-a-sumac-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/17\/adult-sage-thrasher-regurgitating-a-sumac-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Sage Thrasher Regurgitating A Sumac Seed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Sage Thrasher perched on top of a sumac – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Eleven days ago I photographed an adult Sage Thrasher regurgitating the seed of a sumac berry that was so close I could barely fit the thrasher in the frame. Earlier this month I shared a portrait of this same adult thrasher<\/span><\/a> that was taken before it hopped up on top of the sumac.<\/p>\n

At first the thrasher just perched quietly on the shrub and I was delighted to take such frame filling images of the bird.<\/p>\n

All of the images in this post are full frame and simply resized for web presentation.<\/p>\n

\"SageSage Thrasher with its bill open – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When I saw the Sage Thrasher opening its bill through my viewfinder I hoped that I would be able to photograph it regurgitating a sumac seed so I locked on and started firing a long burst.<\/p>\n

I have a 64GB XQD as my primary memory card in my Nikon D500 and with that I never have to worry about my camera buffer filling up when I take long bursts of images like I used to do with some of my previous camera bodies.<\/p>\n

When I am this tight on the bird I do have to worry about any movement that might cause me to clip the feet of my subject. That did happen a few times with this thrasher.<\/p>\n

Fortunately while the Sage Thrasher was in the midst of bringing up the seed I was able keep my camera steady.<\/p>\n

\"SageSage Thrasher after regurgitating a sumac seed – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

For some reason the Sage Thrasher held the sumac seed at the tip of its bill for several seconds after regurgitating it.<\/p>\n

I think it is interesting that sumac seeds are almost the same color of red that berries are, they might be a few shades darker.<\/p>\n

\"SageSage Thrasher with a Fragrant Sumac seed in its bill – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Fragrant Sumacs provide food for butterflies and bees when they are in bloom and during the fall when the berries are ripe they attract birds and small mammals.<\/p>\n

Sage Thrashers, Northern Mockingbirds, and Townsend’s Solitaires are among the birds that eat the berries. The foliage turns orange and red at this time of the year and I enjoy photographing birds among the brightly colored leaves.<\/p>\n

After this last photo was taken the Sage Thrasher<\/span><\/a> dropped the seed from its bill and flew off to join the other thrashers that were in the area that were congregating on another shrub.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Eleven days ago I photographed an adult Sage Thrasher regurgitating the seed of a sumac berry that was so close I could barely fit the thrasher in the frame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163050,"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":[27,1148,103,26],"tags":[4004,6666,4008,4098,6767,5155,6583,821,6768,4003,7554,7474,6188,7630,7631,4613,735,30],"class_list":["post-73824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-sage-thrashers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-berry","tag-box-elder-county","tag-desert","tag-fragrant-sumac","tag-late-summer","tag-leaves","tag-mimids-2","tag-rhus-aromatica","tag-sage-thrasher","tag-seed","tag-seep","tag-shrub","tag-sumac","tag-sumacs","tag-thrasher","tag-thrashers","tag-utah-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-sumac-mia-mcpherson-3914.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jcI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54397,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/10\/02\/sage-thrasher-with-fragrant-sumac-berry-in-mid-air-in-dawns-golden-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":73824,"position":0},"title":"Sage Thrasher With Fragrant Sumac Berry In Mid Air In Dawn’s Golden Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sage Thrasher seemed like it was bathed in golden light when suddenly I saw that it had a sumac berry which it tossed it into the air and proceeded to swallow it whole.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sage Thrasher with Fragrant Sumac berry in mid air, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-berry-mid-air-mia-mcpherson-2218.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-berry-mid-air-mia-mcpherson-2218.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Thrashers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The comparisons I have made between juvenile, immature and adult Sage Thrashers are basic, there are more ways to determine their age but I wanted to keep the comparisons simple.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Sage Thrasher on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sage-thrasher-juvenile-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-5075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sage-thrasher-juvenile-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-5075.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":"Northern Mockingbird perched on a wild rose, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/northern-mockingbird-rose-hips-mia-mcpherson-3734.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/northern-mockingbird-rose-hips-mia-mcpherson-3734.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/northern-mockingbird-rose-hips-mia-mcpherson-3734.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/northern-mockingbird-rose-hips-mia-mcpherson-3734.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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