{"id":74668,"date":"2020-10-14T06:32:58","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T12:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=74668"},"modified":"2024-04-04T16:14:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T22:14:38","slug":"foraging-autumn-bushtits-in-northern-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/14\/foraging-autumn-bushtits-in-northern-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Foraging Autumn Bushtits In Northern Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FemaleFemale Bushtit perched in a Netleaf Hackberry \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I have had my share of issues and frustrations taking photos of Bushtits. Usually I hear these tiny, hyperactive birds before I see them. There have been far too many times that I wasn’t able to get close enough to them before they moved on. Just last month that happened with a large flock of Bushtits in the West Desert. All of the photos I took were long distance documentary style photos.<\/p>\n

Tip: I know that there are some birds species that move quickly and that I have to get close to them fast, without any<\/em> hesitation at all, or I’ll miss out on photographing them. The saying “He who hesitates is lost” applies with Bushtits.<\/p>\n

Tip adjacent to the above tip: I know if I move too fast on the roads in habitat that this species prefers I might not hear their soft calls in time to spot the itty-bitty gray balls of feathers moving around in trees so the saying “Haste makes waste” can apply to them as well.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Bushtit female foraging in a hackberry tree \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve tried many times to take photos of these little gray dynamos since I moved to Utah in 2009. The flocks of Bushtits seem to have three speeds, fast, faster and hyper-drive.<\/p>\n

Picking just one of them to track doesn’t always work out so my eyes have to be in hyper-drive mode too and more often than not by the time I focus on one Bushtit they are gone before I can hit the shutter button.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen them when they are on the wrong side of the light and haven’t been able to circle back on the good side of the light. I’ve seen them when the fog was too heavy to focus on them. I’ve heard their calls<\/span><\/a> but they were so deep in the brush I couldn’t see or focus on them.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Bushtit peeking out of a hackberry tree \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Bushtits have been a nemesis species for me.<\/p>\n

I remember camping outside near Capitol Reef National Park in Torrey, Utah where I kept hearing a twittering call that I was trying to identify. I turned on my iBird Pro app and scrolled through some calls of birds I thought I might be hearing. When I played the calls of Bushtits the birds all flew right towards me. Some of them within less than 10 feet.<\/p>\n

And guess what? I didn\u2019t have my camera at hand because I was simply trying to figure out what birds I was hearing. I don\u2019t ever use recordings to call birds in close to me so I had great views of the birds but no photos. I was profoundly disappointed because the Bushtits didn’t hang around or reappear at that campsite.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Bushtit taking a short break from foraging \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I was able to cross Bushtits off of my mental nemesis bird list up north in Box Elder County. Finally. After eleven long years.<\/p>\n

A flock of about thirty Bushtits were actively foraging in several Netleaf Hackberry trees that weren’t far from the dusty gravel road. The first time I saw them they moved away from the trees but on the second stop at the hackberry trees they hung around long enough for me to take Bushtit photos I am happy with.<\/p>\n

\"AutumnAutumn female Bushtit \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking photos of them was still a challenge because they were either in faster or hyper-drive mode (see the three speeds above) plus it was difficult to see them amongst the leaves and branches of the trees.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Bushtit clinging to a hackberry leaf \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

From time to time one of the Bushtits would stop moving while it was out in the open long enough for me to take a few photos before they seemingly teleported to another part of the tree.<\/p>\n

\"BushtitBushtit male perched on a branch \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took hundreds of photos of these tiny, gray Bushtits as they zoomed from one part of the trees to another and I’ll have hundreds of photos to toss into my delete bin once I have had a chance to go through them all.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Bushtit in Box Elder County \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess I could grumble and complain that the Bushtits weren’t closer, didn’t move slower, and they they didn’t perch out in the open all the time but I won’t.<\/p>\n

Seeing and photographing the Bushtits in northern Utah was a gift that I didn’t expect yesterday and I am grateful to finally have images of them that I like.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Seeing and photographing the Bushtits in northern Utah was a gift that I didn’t expect yesterday and I am grateful to finally have images of them that I like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1148,6255,26],"tags":[4004,970,4897,9800,6257,10520,9874,6486,4098,4620,4070,4136,5679,4062,9873,4104,6256,10506,9629,10521,10522,4427,4076],"class_list":["post-74668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-bushtits","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-branch","tag-break","tag-bushtit","tag-bushtits","tag-celtis-reticulata","tag-clinging","tag-desert","tag-fall","tag-female","tag-foraging","tag-leaf","tag-male","tag-netleaf-hackberry","tag-perched","tag-psaltriparus-minimus","tag-tip","tag-tips","tag-tit","tag-tits","tag-tree","tag-trees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t