Calling Black-capped Chickadee Perched In The Open

Black-capped Chickadee calling

Even though Black-capped Chickadees are common for me to see and hear when I am at home I don’t photograph birds in my yard very often so when I see them in the field out in the open I feel I have to take photos of them even when they don’t look their best.

Two days ago this Black-capped Chickadee and several other others were moving through a willow thicket in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains where I had been focusing on photographing warblers, tanagers, and vireos. I could hear several of the chickadees calling and watched their movements in the willows so when I saw this chickadee pop up on a branch in the open I was ready and took a nice series of images of it. It looks like the chickadee may have bathed before into came into view because some of its feathers appear to be damp or wet and its plumage is a touch messy. The chickadee stayed on the branch long enough to look around, shake its feathers a bit and call before it took off of flew to another willow that had far more leaves than this branch. None of the other chickadees that were in the area came out into the open like this one did so I am glad I took photos of this one.

For the purpose of full disclosure I removed the tips of two leaves from the right hand side of this frame in post processing. Normally I wouldn’t have removed the leaves but decided to because they were bright and somewhat distracting to my eyes.

I have been enjoying the cooler morning temperatures up in the mountains and have noticed just a hint of the falls colors that are yet to come.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Black-capped Chickadee photos plus facts and information about this species.