{"id":74511,"date":"2020-10-09T06:03:19","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T12:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=74511"},"modified":"2025-10-18T18:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T23:18:11","slug":"kinglets-and-turkeys-plus-one-scrub-jay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/09\/kinglets-and-turkeys-plus-one-scrub-jay\/","title":{"rendered":"Kinglets And Turkeys Plus One Scrub-Jay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ruby-crownedRuby-crowned Kinglet and faded Rabbitbrush \u2013 Nikon D500, f5.6, 1\/500, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning near a creek in one of the sky island mountain ranges found in the West Desert of Utah there were kinglets, sparrows, solitaires and a few warblers busy bathing, foraging, and hawking insects. As the water flowed over the worn rocks in the creek several Ruby-crowned Kinglets moved around in the willows and shrubs looking for insects and spiders for breakfast.<\/p>\n

Most of the time the kinglets were in the shade and not out in the bright morning sunlight. I took photos of them wherever they landed. The adult male Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the photos above had just been near the creek bank then I saw it pop up above the faded flowers of a rabbitbrush in the shade. Morning light may have produced a nicer looking photo than the kinglet being in the shade yet I quite like the soft light in this image.<\/p>\n

Note: I know that this kinglet is a male because his ruby crown was plainly visible in other photos I took of him.<\/p>\n

\"Ruby-crownedRuby-crowned Kinglet peeking out of willows \u2013 Nikon D500, f5.6, 1\/320, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then another Ruby-crowned Kinglet peeked out the the willows. Even though the tail and part of the body of the kinglet is obscured by some out of focus willow leaves I loved the filigree of lacy leaves in the background of this image and the great view I had of the kinglet’s eye.<\/p>\n

Not exactly an image one would find in a guide book but this is the kind of view I get of this species quite often. In habitat doing what birds do.<\/p>\n

\"WildWild Turkey hen trying to sneak by \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the morning in another canyon a hiker flushed a small flock of turkeys that I had been listening to. The turkeys flew up a small hill in distress and after a bit this hen tried to sneak past the “mobile blind” that I was sitting in. She was so close that I opted to take a few portraits of her before she disappeared into the forest.<\/p>\n

\"Woodhouse\u2019sWoodhouse\u2019s Scrub-Jay in the West Desert \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On the way down the mountain I spotted a Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay fly into a sumac in a dry wash and was delighted when it flew to a spindly juniper branch for a second or two. I am always happy to add photos of these jays to my portfolio.<\/p>\n

The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Wild Turkeys and the Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay made the very bumpy and extremely dusty ride into the mountain canyons well worth taking.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Wild Turkeys and the Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay made the very bumpy and extremely dusty ride into the mountain canyons well worth taking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109536,"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":[27,6137,1316,358,26,1314,3793,2710],"tags":[10502,4004,2712,3940,4142,6139,3843,4098,10503,8009,6909,4359,6792,2714,6153,6146,3795,4069,6750,4104,4046,6138,6793,5264,10452,4427,3796,5501,401,10504,10501,3794,902,2711],"class_list":["post-74511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-ruby-crowned-kinglets","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-wild-turkeys","category-woodhouses-scrub-jays","tag-abies-concolor","tag-adult","tag-aphelocoma-woodhouseii","tag-canyon","tag-close-up","tag-corthylio-calendula","tag-creek","tag-desert","tag-dry-wash","tag-fir","tag-firs","tag-hen","tag-jay","tag-jays","tag-kinglet","tag-kinglets","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-mountains","tag-peeking","tag-perched","tag-portrait","tag-ruby-crowned-kinglet","tag-scrub-jay","tag-scrub-jays","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-tree","tag-turkey","tag-turkeys","tag-upland-game-birds","tag-wash","tag-white-fir","tag-wild-turkey","tag-willows","tag-woodhouses-scrub-jay"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woodhouses-scrub-jay-in-juniper-mia-mcpherson-5214.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jnN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101694,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/21\/spring-ruby-crowned-kinglet-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":74511,"position":0},"title":"Spring 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Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I spent time focused on photographing Ruby-crowned Kinglets in a Wasatch Mountain Canyon in a thicket of hawthorn and chokecherry trees.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ruby-crowned Kinglet foraging in a hawthorn tree, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ruby-crowned-kinglet-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-8749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ruby-crowned-kinglet-hawthorn-mia-mcpherson-8749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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