Shrike!

Gallery: AvianPosted December 19, 2011339 views21 comments

I had the very great pleasure of spending a day with Ron Dudley and Mia McPherson this past weekend at Antelope Island, Utah, and while I have been to Salt Lake numerous times for business and skiing, I had never photographed there. I can readily say that this is an amazing area to experience!

This is an image from the trip, and one I was thrilled to get. We had spotted this loggerhead on a bush and then watched as he darted down into the grasses and come up with this vole.

Shot from Ron's pickup.

Thanks for looking and your comments are appreciated.

D3s
500mm f/4
TC-14E II
1/2000s @ f/5.6
ISO 1000
+1/3 EV
Pattern Metering

Comments

21 comments

Comment posted by Verdon on December 19, 2011 at 6:52 PM

what a great action shot, congrats!

Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on December 19, 2011 at 6:52 PM

That's a great catch both for the Shrike and for you too. I like this type of photo that leaves some room around te subject and shows more habitat. Well done.

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on December 19, 2011 at 7:35 PM

IMO this is excellent. Not only have you captured a shrike with mammal prey but you caught it in flight. On top of that the bird is clear of the vegetation and you even got light in the eye in the miserable conditions we had that day. The sunflowers on the left are sharp and combined with the background OOF rabbitbrush and snow it all represents perfectly the habitat of the island this time of year. Nice processing and composition too. Neat shot!

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on December 19, 2011 at 7:36 PM

Quite the catch and photo. I've seen shrikes with dragonflies and lizards, and even the remnants of a mouse or vole, but never one carrying a vole like this.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on December 19, 2011 at 9:26 PM

Great action image, nice catch!

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on December 19, 2011 at 10:31 PM

This is cool Chuck, these guys are tough to get close to (here, anyway). Love the setting and prey.

Then again...I too had a lot of luck the one time I was fortunate enough to be around Ron and Mia!!! Personally, I think they tame all the birds along the causeway to Antelope Island...they're MUCH more cooperative there than anywhere else I've been.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments

Comment posted by Suzanne Huot on December 19, 2011 at 10:46 PM

This is one image that works wonderfully ,even though the subject is smaller in the frame than often seen .It tells the whole story and makes for a wonderful composition. I can see why you were thrilled to get this one.

Registered on December 28, 2010, 32 Posts, 240 Comments

Comment posted by Eirini Pajak on December 20, 2011 at 5:45 AM

That is REALLY neat! Great timing!

Registered on December 13, 2011, 216 Posts, 1671 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on December 20, 2011 at 8:07 AM

I like this setting, nice POV of the bird & vole Charles.
Getting both the bird & vole prey inflight like this makes it GREAT!

Well done & Merry Christmas!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on December 20, 2011 at 9:37 AM

Amazing that you were able to get this. I like the soft foggy look as well.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on December 20, 2011 at 10:10 AM

Very nice as presented. I think this would be equally nice if it was a tighter crop.

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on December 20, 2011 at 10:37 AM

Great catch!
Nice flight shot, interesting habitat, excellent prey - just excellent!
Sandyt

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on December 20, 2011 at 2:03 PM

Nice job in getting this shot, this is one of those where you have to look at the larger image to appreciated it, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on December 20, 2011 at 3:43 PM

Oh wow! That is big prey for a shrike. I see these birds just about every day and I have never seen one with anything this large. Way to go.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on December 20, 2011 at 4:00 PM

Chuck,

I am tickled that you got this shot, I couldn't believe my eyes when the Shrike lifted off of the ground with this vole in its bill. I love images where the bird is small in the frame that show the habitat and you captured that very well plus you got great action too! You also did extremely well in the cruddy conditions we had to have enough shutter speed and get light in the Shrike's eye.

It was such a pleasure to finally meet and photograph with you, hope you will be back soon!

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on December 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM

Lovely mix of greys. Great action shot indeed.
JR

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 20, 2011 at 10:13 PM

Wonderful image, Chuck. Great just to get a loggerhead in flight, but with prey as well is superb and the image quality looks spot on. If I recall correctly, the D3s has lots of megapixels, so you might want to consider cropping this a bit closer to bring out some of that lovely detail.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on December 22, 2011 at 9:50 PM

Dang Chuck,
This one will be hard to top. I'm just trying to get a decent image of a shrike on a stick. Jeez. You have the bar raised high with this one. Congrats on this unusual capture.
May you be blessed with exceptional light in 2012. Merry Christmas Chuck.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by antino cervigni on December 25, 2011 at 7:54 AM

Very nice. Best regards Antino

Registered on April 17, 2010, 70 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Durwood Edwards on December 25, 2011 at 9:35 AM

Simply excellent!

Registered on December 8, 2006, 116 Posts, 394 Comments

Comment posted by Larry Daniel on December 25, 2011 at 2:16 PM

Very nice and unique image!

Registered on May 2, 2007, 23 Posts, 54 Comments