Mated Pair of Sage Thrashers – Nikon D300, f11, 1/500, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
Sage Thrashers return to northern Utah in March and it is now time for me to start listening for their songs and melodies. I believe my earliest sighting of this species is on March 8th which is just three days from now.
Typically I hear these songsters before I see them. They sing frequently when they first return to their breeding grounds here in the Great Basin. I love hearing their songs and calls so I am looking forward to the auditory delights they bring when they migrate to my area.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic I wasn’t able to visit Antelope Island last spring when the Sage Thrashers were displaying because (then) Governor Gary Herbert locked the state parks down so that only the people who lived in the county of each individual park could visit them. I don’t live in Davis County so I could not get to Antelope Island. By the time I could get to the park the thrashers had stopped their courtship displays and the biting gnats were out and terrorizing people.
The photo above of the pair of Sage Thrashers was taken on Antelope Island in 2013.
Perched adult Sage Thrasher – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Antelope island is one of the best places I know to see and photograph the Sage Thrashers displaying and courting. The best part? You don’t even need to get out of your vehicle to photograph them. In fact, I’d advise anyone visiting the park to stay in their vehicles to take images of these thrashers because they are used to vehicles but not people on foot. That is my tip of the day.
I can hardly wait to see and hear my first Sage Thrasher of 2021.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Sage Thrasher photos plus facts and information about this species.
The Sage Thrasher photo above was taken in Box Elder County in 2020.
Great detail of that golden eye!
I hope that there are lots of Sage Thrashers for you this year!
I love the colors and composition in the second photo!
I hope you can see and hear these charmers. Soon.
I am looking forward to your first post of a Sage Thrasher for 2021.
We had them in New Mexico in the foothills but not up in the woodlands where we lived at 7000 feet. They had a persistent sweet bubbling song. I miss them– still a New Mexican at heart.