Feathers & Fur – Short-eared Owl, Shaking Brewer’s Blackbird and a Curious Long-tailed Weasel

Short-eared Owl in flight over a marsh – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

I spent a little while at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning and although it seemed fairly slow bird wise I was able to get a few bird photos that I liked and one Long-tailed Weasel too. The best bird for me was seeing a Short-eared Owl in flight over the marsh. I hadn’t seen a short-eared owl there in quite a few years. Even though the owl was some distance from me I liked how the colors in the background echoed some of the colors in the plumage of the owl.

Male Brewer’s Blackbird shaking after a bath – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

Then there were Brewer’s Blackbirds… This time of the year they are often found in large flocks and that was the case yesterday, some were perched on electrical wires, some on fence posts and trees, some were walking around on the ground and a few were bathing at the edge of a pond. When the Brewer’s Blackbirds were finished bathing it seemed like they preferred to finish off their baths with shaking and preening by flying up to the fence posts and wires. I took a lot of photos of two males and one female Brewer’s Blackbirds shaking and preening and I was able to capture some interesting poses. I’ll do a separate post with more of those photos another time.

Even with a shutter speed of 1/2500 I wasn’t able to freeze the motion of this Brewer’s Blackbird’s wings and tail feathers but I sure liked its pose and the action.

Curious Long-tailed Weasel close up in poor light – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light,

Then there was a Long-tailed Weasel in poor lighting conditions but I had to take photos of it because I don’t see them all that often. The weasel sure seemed curious because it kept running towards the “mobile blind” then leaping away and then back again. Oh how I wish I would have been able to photograph this weasel in better light yesterday. These creatures fascinate me.

So it wasn’t a great morning but it wasn’t all that bad either because I was able to focus on a Short-eared Owl, Brewer’s Blackbirds and one curious Long-tailed Weasel.

Life is good

Mia

Click here to see more of my Short-eared Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.

Click here to see more of my Brewer’s Blackbird photos plus facts and information about this species.

Click here to see more of my Long-tailed Weasel photos plus facts and information about this species.