Colorado Bird Photography

Yard Surprise

2010-07-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning and found this deer with her fawn in my yard. I get a lot of deer in my yard but I have never had a fawn. This was shot through the sliding glass door. It came out better than I thought after a small Photoshop adjustment. Please ignore the weeds.

Spring Review Part 3

2010-06-10T06:22:00.000-07:00

On May 18th a Tricolored Heron was reported at Holcim Wetlands in Fremont county. I had never heard of Holcim Wetlands so I was excited to find the heron in a new location. Once I was there it took about 40 minutes before I saw the bird fly into open water and I was able to get some photos with rather poor lighting conditions.

I returned on May 19th and Tricolored Heron was still there. I also found this Curve-billed Thrasher and finally got a quick shot of the local Common Yellowthroat.

Holcom Wetlands is a shallow gravel pit cattail marsh. At this location you have access to the marsh, a river and a canal between the marsh and the river. In two short visits I located 21 species of birds, two species of lizards and one huge toad. Im my opinion this is now one of the premier spots in Fremont County.

Spring Review Part 2

2010-05-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Just about a month after the Yellow-crowned Night-heron another rare visitor, a Common Black-hawk, arrived to the same park. Common Black-hawks are typically found in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. They rarely go as far north as Colorado.

Common Black-hawk - Fountain Creek Regional Park - 5/17/2010

Around this time Warblers and Tanagers were also moving through the area.

Western Tanager - Sondermann Park -5/20/2010

American Redstart - Fountain Creek Regional Park - 5-17-2010

Spring Review Part 1

2010-05-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

The first notable bird to show up in the area where I live (El Paso County, Colorado) was a Yellow-crowned Night-heron. It was found in mid April at Fountain Creek Regional Park. Yellow-crowned Night-herons are rare visitors to Colorado and this was the first one I had seen outside of Texas.

Yellow-crowned Night-heron - Fountain Creek Regional Park - 4-18-2010

New Mexico

2009-09-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

On my way back from Arizona I made a couple stops in New Mexico. The first stop was at Bosque Del Apache NWR. This was my my first summer visit here and it was very dead. I didn't take any pictures but I did get a glimpse of some Gambel's Quail, Ring-necked Pheasant, Black Phoebe and Wilson's Warbler. On the road leading out of the refuge I spotted a rattlesnake crossing the road. I pulled over and walked back along the road until I heard the snake rattling in the weeds.

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Of course I couldn't drive through New Mexico without heading over to Conchas Lake to see the Blue-footed Booby. I believe this is the first Blue-footed Booby in New Mexico. When I got to the lake I stopped to pay the entrance fee and a couple stopped and asked if I was there to see "The Bird". They said that they had been looking for two hours with no luck and then they drove out of the area. I got my camera and started walking toward to shore not really expecting to see "The Bird" but within a few minutes it appeared and spent about 5 minutes flying back and forth in front of me.

Blue-footed Booby

Southern Arizona Trip

2009-09-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from my 2nd SE Arizona trip. It was my first trip to Arizona in the summer. It was beautiful, hot, and slow.

On the first day I headed out to Sonoita Creek Preserve in Patagonia to find that it was closed on that day. I spent some time walking along Blue Haven Road looking for the Sinaloa Wren. I got a few poor photos of young Phainopeplas, a Summer Tanager, and this post-bath Rufous-crowned Sparrow.

The next day I returned to the preserve because I knew that it was open.

I quickly found this Gray Hawk. He looked angry. Maybe it's the eyes.

And this small and noisy group of Thick-billed Kingbirds.

At Madera Canyon it was hot and dead quiet.

A Yarrow's Spiny Lizard possed for his photograph.

Ladder-backed woodpeckers were a common sight. I didn't see any on my first Arizona Trip.

Some Summer Insects

2009-08-09T14:25:00.001-07:00

In addition to my camera, telephoto lens and tripod I also like to carry my Canon 100mm Macro lens with me in the summer in case I find any interesting insects.

Tailed Copper - Waldo Canyon - 7-12-2009

The Mueller butterfly and moth were in the same area by School Pond. I would like to have stayed longer to see what else was around but the strong smell of black bear made me want keep moving.

Hoary Comma - Mueller State Park - 8-2-2009

Ctenucha Venosa? Moth - Mueller State Park - 8-2-2009

Ctenucha Venosa? Moth - Mueller State Park - 8-2-2009

Aphrodite Fritillary - Ute Valley Park - 7-5-2009

This small flowering plant had 8-10 of these wasps on it. They look wicked but are not at all aggressive so I was taking pictures with my macro lens a few inches away. When I got home I did some research and found out that they probably have the most painful sting in North America. As adults they eat flowers and pollen. They kill tarantulas to provide a food source for their larval young.

Tarantula Hawk - Brush Hollow Reservoir - 7-18-2009

Robber Fly with prey - DeWeese Reservoir - 7-18-2009

With their intensely white tail, this species of dragonfly is difficult to photograph in full sunlight. This particular dragonfly waited patiently while I took several photos, checking the over-exposure alert and using exposure compensation to adjust the exposure so that the tail wouldn't be over exposed.

White Tail Dragonfly male - Bonny Reservoir State Park - 8-8-2009 - Canon 400mm

White Tail Dragonfly female - Bonny Reservoir State Park - 8/8/2009 - Canon 400mm

Williamson's Sapsuckers

2009-07-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I photographed this pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers at Genessee Mountain Park west of Denver. The nest is in an area that gets a lot of foot traffic and the birds appear to have little fear of people. It is amazing how hard this pair was working to keep their chicks fed.

Williamson's Sapsucker male

Williamson's Sapsucker female

Ramah SWA

2009-07-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday I drove out to Ramah State Wildlife Area to see if there was any water in Ramah Reservoir. With the unusual amount of rain that we have had here this summer I thought the reservoir might have recovered. It was still completely dry. It's strange that last year it was full and this year it is dry.

Not having any water really limits the wildlife so it was really quiet. I did find some Western Kingbirds feeding their young.

Western Kingbird feeding young

Western Kingbird (immature)

This Northern Mockingbird acted like it was part of the Western Kingbird family.

Northern Mockingbird

Reddish Egret at DeWeese Reservoir

2009-07-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Reddish Egret

It has been a great summer for rare birds visiting Colorado. Right on the heels of the Black Vulture comes a Reddish Egret to DeWeese Reservoir. This bird, first reported by Rich Miller on July 17th, will likly be the 9th or 10th reported in Colorado.

Black Vulture

2009-07-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Black Vultures rarely visit Colorado. For several days one has been staying at Castlewood Canyon State Park. The Turkey Vultures seem to love this place so it seems fitting that the Black Vulture would end up here.

Black Vulture

While waiting for the Black Vulture to make an appearance a few other attractive birds stopped by the parking area to get there photographs taken.

Young Bluebird

Lazuli Bunting

San Luis Hills

2009-07-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

San Luis Hills

Last weekend I was in the San Luis Valley visiting my parents. We went over to the San Luis Hills to look for Black-throated and Sage Sparrows. We didn't have much luck with the sparrows but it was a good trip anyway. It is amazing how such a dry desert like environment can be so full of life.

The Green-tailed Towhee always seems to keep a stick between it and a photographer. Maybe someday I will get an unobstructed view.

Green-tailed Towhee

This place was crawling with insects. A little rain does wonders.

Three-banded Grasshopper

We also took a loop through the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge. It was fairly quiet but it was fun watching the baby American Avocet chicks.

American Avocet chick

Lake Pueblo

2009-06-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived in Colorado and there are now few email alerts for rare and unusual birds to lure me off to the far corners of the state. So I head down to Lake Pueblo, not too far away and always has something to offer. About 30 feet from the parking lot I see a female Blue Grosbeak about 15 feet in front of me right out in the open. It's the best Blue Grosebeak photo op I have ever had. The only problem is that the camera is in the backpack, I chose comfort over being prepared. I slowly take off the backback and lower to the ground and the bird is still there. I unzip the bag and pick up the camera and the bird is still there. I mount the camera on the tripod with one eye on the bird. I slowly remove the lens cap, the bird appears to be waiting patiently as if it wants to have its picture taken. I slowly aim the camera and look through the viewfinder... the bird is gone. Oh well, it was only a female. I have seen Blue Grosbeaks twice in Colorado and they were both at this location.

Loggerhead Shrike

A short distance later I come upon a Loggerhead Shrike. This bird allows me to get really close without even trying.

On my way back to the car I see movement at my feet and notice a Lark Sparrow running away from me. It acts like both of its wings are broken. Once it gets about 30 feet away it flys up onto a Yucca and then acts completly normal. Is this behavior like the injured killdeer act? Was it trying to lure me away from its nest? Do Lark Sparrows nest on the ground?

It appeared to be a great day for Lizards but I only found this one.

Triploid Checkered Whiptail

Bee Assassin Bug

Colorado National Monument - Lizards etc.

2009-06-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Colorado National Monument is also a good place to find lizards. I found 3 species without a lot of effort.

Side-blotched Lizard

Western Whiptail

Plateau-striped Whiptail

Rock Squirrel

Prickley-pear Cactus

Colorado National Monument

2009-06-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

Last week I headed out to western Colorado to do some camping at Colorado National Monument. After a couple of hours at the monument we had seen several of the birds that specialties of the area including: Black-throated Gray Warbler (campsite), Pinion Jay (campsite), Gambels Quail (road to campground and in Grand Junction), and Juniper Titmouse (campsite). I had one curious Juniper Titmouse fly to within 3 feet of where I was sitting on the picnic table. I thought that it was going to land on my hand, it might of if I had had some seeds.

As lively as the Monument was the best opportunities for photography were at the Kokopelli trailheads near Fruita. It was at this location that I was able to photograph my first Black-throated Sparrows in Colorado.

Black-throated Sparrow with Food

Black-throated Sparrow with Grasshopper

Black-throated Sparrow

A few other birds agreed to pose for a photo.

Western Kingbird

Violet-green Swallow

Manitou Lake

2009-05-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

Looking for a change of scenery I headed up to Manitou Lake. Manitou Lake is a small mountain lake outside of the town of Woodland Park. For the most part the lake had very few birds but lots of fishermen. There were eight American White Pelicans on the lake that seemed out of place and rather striking in this environment.

American White Pelican

Black-chinned Hummingbird

At one end of the lake is a boardwalk that goes through a cattail marsh. I sat on the boardwalk for about 10 minutes and saw a Virginia Rail and a Sora. I also heard some really strange calls (like a laughing Java the Hut) coming from what I believe were the Virgina Rail. It is hard to believe that an animal that small can make such a loud and deep sound.

More Good Migrants in Colorado Springs

2009-05-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

It has been a great migration season for Colorado Springs. Most of this activity takes place in Sonderman Park and Fountain Creek Nature Center (south of Colorado Springs). For me it has been all about Vireos. I have added 3 new Vireos to my life list. The White-eyed, Yellow-throated and Plumbeous Vireos. The following photos were all taken on the same day.

Warbling Vireo
Sonderman Park

Plumbeous Vireo
Fountain Creek Nature Center

White-eyed Vireo
Sonderman Park

Yellow-throated Vireo
Fountain Creek Nature Center

Uncommon Migrants at Sonderman Park

2009-05-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

After work on Wednesday I stopped by Sonderman park to try to locate a White-eyed Vireo that had been reported earlier. When I arrived a ran into two skilled and helpful birders, Cici and Jeannie, who pointed out an unusual Brewster's Warbler (a Blue-winged x Golden-winged hybrid).

After watching the Brewsters for a while I continued my search for the White-eyed Vireo. I don't usually have much luck chasing after small migrant birds but this was obviously my lucky day.

A few more spring birds

2009-05-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

The following photos were taken at Swallows State Wildlife Area after a spring snow. I don't recommend this area after a snow/rain. It's easy getting in but difficult getting out.

Mountain Bluebird

Says Phoebe

Western Bluebird

Mountain Bluebird

Last Chance Colorado

2009-05-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I headed out east to the Last Chance reststop in Last Chance Colorado. Last Chance has a migrant trap that consists of a small pond and some trees. During the 3 hours that I was there I ended up with 6 new life birds (L).

This list:
Hermit Thrush (L)
Swainson's Thrush (L)
Northern Waterthrush (L)
White-throated Sparrow (L)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (L)
Green-tailed Towhee (L)
Common Yellowthroat
Orange-crowned Warbler
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Lincoln Sparrow
Red-breasted Nuthatch

Hermit Thrush

White-throated Sparrow

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

More from Manitou Lake

2009-03-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Manitou Lake has been great this year for Red Crossbills. As of March 21st the lake is still 90 percent iced over but is showing signs of melting.

Red Crossbill

Mountain Chickadee

Red-winged Blackbird

My Gallery Website

2009-02-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

For more wildlife photography please check out my Gallery Website.

http://www.pbase.com/robbphoto

Manitou Lake Crossbills

2009-02-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went up to Manitou Lake to look for Red Crossbills. I had seen them here before but had only taken really poor photographs. The trip started very slow but ended with a feeding frenzy of Crossbills, Pygmy Nuthatch, and Dark-eyed Juncos.

Red Crossbill

Pygmy Nuthatch

Dark-eyed Junco

Madera Canyon

2009-01-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

I arrived at Madera Canyon around 8:00 AM on a cold and rainy day. I planned on hiking up the Super trail hoping that I could find an Elegant Trogon. Because the light was so poor I considered leaving the camera and tripod in the car. I thought that I wouldn't be able to get any good photos and that I probably wouldn't see a Trogon in December. Luckily, I decided to take the camera. After hiking for about 1/4 mile in near darkness I caught a glimps of some movement on the right side of the trail. It took me a second to realize that the exotic bird that I was looking at was the Elegant Trogon.

Elegant Trogon

Mexican Jay

Bridled Titmouse

Arizona Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

Lost Dutchman State Park

2009-01-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

Lost Dutchman State Park is located 40 miles east of Phoenix in the Sonoran desert. It provides a good opportunity to photograph the common desert species. The bird feeders by the visitors center gave me some easy shots of Gambel's Quail.

Phainopepla female

Harris's Antelope Squirrel

Gila Woodpeck

Gambel's Quail female

Gambel's Quail male

Curve-billed Thrasher

Cactus Wren

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

2008-12-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

Boyce Thompson Arboretum exists to instill an appreciation of plants in people. It is also a very good spot to find desert birds. It is located in the very scenic area about an hour east of Phoenix and close to Superior Arizona.

Verdin

Phainopepla

Curve-billed Thrasher

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Black-throated Sparrow

Alberts Towhee

Southeast Arizona Trip

2008-12-18T06:43:00.000-08:00

Last week I took a trip down to Southeast Arizona. I visited Sweetwater Wetlands, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Madera Canyon and Lost Dutchman State Park. The next few posts will cover this trip.

Elegant Trogon - Madera Canyon
f5.6, 1/60 iso 1600, Exposure Compensation -1, Canon 40D 400mm

I photographed this Trogon early in the morning on a foggy overcast day. The poor lighting forced me to use an extremely high iso setting which resulted in a very grainy image. A noise filtering utility called Noiseware Professional was recently brought to my attention by Bill Schmoker (brdpics.blogspot.com). Using this utility I was able to extract a decent photo.

Eleven Mile Canyon

2008-11-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

I headed up to Eleven Mile Canyon today hoping to see Crossbills and Albert's Squirrels. It was a quiet day but I did spot this American Dipper on my way out. At this point Eleven Mile Canyon accounts for 100% of my American Dipper finds. I find that American Dippers love to be photographed. I setup my tripod and camera as close as I could due to the steep bank of the river. The Dipper seemed to think that I could get better shots if he flew over to the rock right in front of me, so that is what he did. Due to the limited lighting I was forced to use an iso of 800.

A great day at Antero Reservoir

2008-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

Today at Antero Reservoir I was lucky enough to see 3 and photograph 2 lifers. All 3 species are listed on the Colorado Rare Bird Alert list. They are: White-winged Scoter, Yellow-billed Loon and Snow Bunting. Thanks to Gary and Linda for sharing their scope with me so that I could see the Scoter.

Warblers at Ramah SWA

2008-09-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

Today I took the day off so that I could head over to Ramah SWA to see if I could find any of the warblers that had been reported. I only found Wilson's and Yellow Warblers.

Some other birds found:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Western Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Least Flycatcher

Rock Wren

Leucistic? or Hybrid? Mallard???

Franklin's Gulls

Wilson's Warbler

Leucistic? or Hybrid? Mallard?

Rock Wren

Least Flycatcher

Juniper Titmouse

2008-09-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

This morning at Aiken Canyon Preserve, located about 25 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, I saw my first Juniper Titmouse. This was a difficult bird to photograph as you can probably tell by the poor quality of the photo. However, it was far more cooperative than the Mourning Warbler that I also saw there.

Barn Swallows at Fountain Nature Center

2008-08-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw this immature Barn Swallow sitting on a rock waiting for one of its parents to feed it. I setup the camera and waited for the parent to return. As I waited I had time to take a couple of shots to check the histogram to make sure the exposure was correct. Ideally you want to have the curve as far to the right as possible without touching the right y axis. If the curve overflows the right y axis you will have blown highlights. A curve too far to the left indicates an under exposed image.

Because the baby swallow was not moving around I was able to focus using autofocus and then switch to manual focus. By doing this I could then stand comfortably without looking through the viewfinder as I waited for the parent to return. When I saw the parent approach I then just held down the shutter button and took a sequence of photos of the feeding.

Canon 50mm f1.8 II

2008-08-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been researching inexpensive macro photography options for my Dad. I guess i'm the only one in the family that likes to spend lots of money on camera equipment. I have Canon's excellent 100mm f2.8 lens so I know that macro lenses are expensive. Still, I thought that there would be an inexpensive option from Sigma etc. that would give decent results. As it turns out there are some quality offerings from Sigma but they are still surprisingly expensive. My next thought was to go with a 50mm lens coupled with an extension tube. Canon offers a really inexpensive 50mm lens for around $90. The 50mm f1.8 II lens is known to be very fast, sharp and cheaply built. After looking at several reviews I decided to buy the lens and try it out. Yesterday I purchased the lens and had it in my car on the 40D. I was heading back from the
store when I noticed some strange clouds over Pikes Peak.

Storm Clouds
1/400, f5.3, iso 200, +2/3 exposure compensation, 50mm, handheld

I decided I would do a quick loop through the Garden of the Gods park to see if I could get some good storm photos. Off of the main loop there is a short road that goes to a parking lot for a trailhead. I pulled into the parking lot but all the parking spaces were full so I head back to the main loop. On the way out I saw a Mule deer nursing two fawns. I took a couple pictures from the car when a group of noisy tourists came walking down the road causing the meal to be cut short. Even with the crowd of tourist standing around yelling at each other the fawns lingered in the area for a couple minutes and I was able to get a few more shots. Considering the bad lighting the fast 50mm lens performed well. A few of the shots were taken wide open at f1.8. With my wildlife lens (f5.6) I would have had to go to a much higher ISO setting.

Mule Deer Fawns
1/500, f1.8, iso 200, +1/3 exposure compensation, 50mm, handheld

Mule Deer Fawn

1/500, f2.2, iso 400, 50mm, handheld

From earlier in the day at Ramah SWA.

Immature Yellow-headed Blackbird

1/500, f6.3, iso 200, +1/3 exposure compensation, 400mm, tripod with gimbal type head

Rocky Mountain National Park

2008-08-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

This week I took a day off from my real job and took a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) to try to photograph White-tailed Ptarmigan. On my last trip to RMNP I was able to photograph moose, elk, big-horned sheep, coyote, marmot, red squirrel etc. On this trip there wasn't much to see including White-tailed Ptarmigan.

The one bonus of the trip was the American Pika. American Pika are still fairly common above timberline at RMNP. In the past my experience has been that they are very skittish and tend to hide as soon as they see you. On this occasion they seemed to be so occupied with filling their larders with grass that they were oblivious to observers.

American Pika
Enthusiastically collecting food for winter

Texas Trip - Sabal Palms Grove Audubon Center

2008-07-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

I originally had Sabal Palms on my list of optional places to visit while in the Lower Rio-Grande Valley. I decided to go after a couple elderly ladies that I talked to at the Valley Nature center strongly recomended it. They said it would probably be my last chance to go, they seemed to be on the verge of tears.

Sabal Palms is a 527 acre preserve located southeast of Brownsville Texas. It contains 32 acres of old-growth sabal palm and is considered the best example of this type (The 500 Most Important Bird Areas book).

It doesn't take long to realize that this is a very special place. It is irreplaceable. Sadly it appears that Sabal Palms will be the victim of the border wall. I highly recomend that visit Sabal Palms before it is too late.

Green Kingfisher
1/500 sec, f5.6, iso 250, -1/3 exposure compensation, 400mm
(negative exposure compensation is used to reduce over-exposure of kingfisher's white neck)

Least Grebe

1/500 sec, f5.6, iso 250, -2/3 exposure compensation, 400mm

(negative exposure compensation is used here also to reduce over-exposure of the grebe's white rump)

Red-eared Slider Turtle

1/400 sec, f5.6, iso 200, +2/3 exposure compensation, 400mm

The Search for Black Swifts

2008-06-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

I recently headed down to the San Luis Valley to visit my parents and try to locate and photograph Black Swifts at Zapata Falls. Zapata Falls is located on the road heading into the Great Sand Dunes National Park. To get to Zapata falls you need to drive up a very rough dirt road that leads to a parking area and campground. From the parking lot there is a steep 1/2 mile trail that ends at a fast moving mountain stream. At this point you must wade through the stream for about 100 ft. to get to the falls that are located in a kind of slot canyon formation. So as I was standing in the rushing, ice cold, water I got out my camera, turned it on and nothing, completely dead. This is understandable because the battery was still charging at my parents house. Lucky for me I didn't see any Black Swifts or I might have been upset. I did notice that a couple days later someone reported seeing 30+ Black Swifts at Zapata Falls on the Colorado Birding Society website. Maybe I was too early in the day (6:00 pm) or maybe i'm blind to Black Swifts. Hopefully next time i'll see some and bring my battery.

In spite of the Black Swift fiasco all was not lost. While visiting the Alamosa NWR we were lucky enough to spot this cooperative American bittern. Unfortunatly, you do not always have control over the lighting quality and this bird was back-lit with rather harsh mid-morning sunlight. You have to get up very early in the morning in Colorado to get quality lighting for bird photography.

Click on the photo to see the large version and check out this birds foot. Scary!

American Bittern
1/400 sec, f7.1, +2/3 exposure compensation, iso 250, from car using bean bag

While leaving the Sand Dunes we came upon this Burrowing Owl. Again the angle of the sun was not optimal. I have been to the Sand Dunes many times and this is the first Burrowing Owl that I have seen in the area.

Burrowing Owl
1/640 sec, f6.3, +1 exposure compensation, iso 250, from car using bean bag

Texas Trip - South Padre Island part 2

2008-06-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

When I first planned my trip I didn't have South Padre Island on the itinerary. When I left Laguna Atascosa I realized how close I was and decided to go. This turned out to be the right decision. I saw more species of birds here than all the other locations combined.

Canada Warbler
1/250 sec, f6.3, iso640, exposure compensation -1/3, 400mm

Black Bellied Whistling Duck
1/250 sec, f5.6, iso 640, 400mm

Roseate Spoonbill
1/800 sec, f10, exposure compensation -2/3, iso 200, 400mm

Least Bittern
1/320 sec, f10, iso 200. 400mm

Texas Trip - South Padre Island

2008-06-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

On the grounds of the South Padre Island Convention Center is a nature area that consists of a boardwalk through a cattail marsh and a water feature that works like a small re-circulating stream. The water feature, along with the trees that surround the convention center, are a popular place with migrating warblers. The marsh had just about everything you would expect including Roseate Spoonbills, White Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Least Bittern, Clapper Rail, Black-necked Stilt, Great Blue Heron, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Alligator etc. etc.. A mudflat adjacent to the marsh contained various gulls, terns and black skimmers. A helpful birder from Dallas pointed out a pair of Magnificant Frigatebirds flying above the area.

The boardwalk has its pros and cons as far as photography is concerned. I gives you the ability to enter the marsh and most of the wildlife appears to not notice that you are there. However, because the boardwalk is elevated you end up shooting down on most of your subjects. It is almost always better to shoot as close to eye level as possible.

Tricolored Heron

1/200, f6.3, +1/3 exposure compensation, iso 200, 400mm

Clapper Rail
1/640, f5.6, + 1/3 exposure compensation, iso 400, 400mm

Dunlin
1/640, f7.1, + 2/3 exposure compensation, iso 200, 400mm

Magnolia Warbler
1/400, f5.6, + 1/3 exposure compensation, iso 500, 400mm

Alligator
1/400, f6.3, iso 200, 400mm

Texas Trip - Laguna Atascosa

2008-05-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Laguna Atascosa NWR is located on the Gulf of Mexico about 15 miles north of where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf. This 45,000 acre refuge has the greatest number of recorded bird species of any National Wildlife Refuge. It also provides habitat for the endangered ocelot and jaguarundi.

I arrived just as the sun was coming up and due to cloud cover it was virtually dark. Before I could finish attaching my camera to the tripod a Wild Turkey and a Chachalaca ran across the parking lot and green jays were flying around in the trees. I knew it was going to be a good day.

Plain Chachalaca
1/200 sec, f5.6, 400mm

The refuge has two driving loops, a lake loop and a gulf loop. I started with the lake loop and soon saw a sign for a alligator pond. I hiked out to see the alligators but was disappointed to find out that the pond was completly dry. It would be nice if they posted a sign.

I then took the longer gulf loop. This route takes you along the gulf through some very interesting landscape. I was able to see Roseate Spoonbills, White Ibis, and Redish Egret. At one point I had to stop and wait for a Tortise (Texas Tortise?). I pulled over and got out to watch the Tortise when I noticed a huge shiny black snake crossing the road. I estimated that it was around 7-8 feet long. Maybe a Texas Indigo snake.

Reddish Egret
1/400 sec, f8.0, +1 Exposure Compensation, 400mm

After finishing the gulf loop I headed back to the visitors center where they have some feeders set up. In a short period of time several bird species visited including; Chachalacas, Green Jay, White-tipped Dove and Magnolia Warbler.

Green Jay
1/200 sec, f5.6, -2/3 Exposure Compensation, ISO 1250

Texas Trip - Hazel Bazemore County Park

2008-05-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

After driving for about 4 hours I was looking for a place to pull over and have lunch. I checked my copy of "The 500 Most Important Bird Areas" and discovered that Hazel Bazemore County Park was only a few miles away so I decided to check it out. The book states that this may be the premier hawk watching site in the country from mid-August to mid-November. Hazel Bazemore is a rather dumpy looking park that consists of a road with some pull-offs with picnic tables. It also contains a nice observation deck for observing hawks. I didn't see any hawks but I did get my first photographs of the American Redstart, Inca Dove and Northern Mockingbird.

Inca Dove

1/1000, f5.6, iso 200

Northern Mockingbird
1/125, f5.6, +2/3 exposure compensation, iso 200

Up Next -> Laguna Atascosa NWR

Texas Trip - Balcones Canyonlands NWR

2008-05-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

On my way from Colorado Springs to Texas I passed through the north-east corner of New Mexico and took my first photos of a Great-tailed Grackle at a rest area. Other people looked at me like I was crazy taking pictures of this bird. After I made it down to southern Texas I could see why. If you are outside and look in any direction you will see one.

Great-tailed Grackle

1/320, f6.3, iso 320

My first Texas location was Balcones Canyonlands NWR near Marble Falls Texas. Balcones is a nesting area for the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo. I was hoping to see one of these species but I wasn't so lucky. I did get a good look at my first Yellow-breasted Chat.

Yellow-breasted Chat

1/400, f5.6, iso 400

Up next -> a quick stop near Corpus Christi...

Texas Trip - Lower Rio Grande Valley

2008-05-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I took a trip down to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. In the next series of posts I will show what I saw at each place.

Here is the list the birds and other wildlife that I saw and photographed.

(P=photo list, L=life list)

Birds

Great-tailed Grackle (P)

Yellow-breasted Chat (P,L)

Northern Cardinal

Blue Grosbeak

Northern Mockingbird (P,L)

Inca Dove (P,L)

American Redstart (P,L)

Black-bellied Whistling Duck (P,L)

Green Jay (P,L)

Chachalaca (P,L)

Road Runner (P)

White Ibis (P,L)

Little blue Heron

White-tipped Dove (P,L)

Olive Sparrow (P,L)

Dunlin (P,L)

Ruddy Turnstone (P,L)

Roseate Spoonbill (P,L)

Tri-colored Heron (P,L)

Least Tern (P,L)

Magnolia Warbler (P,L)

Yellow Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Black-necked Stilt (P,L)

Cattle Egret (P,L)

Clapper Rail (P,L)

Common Moorhen (P,L)

Yellow-crowned Night-heron (P,L)

Veery (P,L)

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (P,L)

Black Skimmer (P,L)

Gray Catbird (P,L)

Canada Warbler (P,L)

White-winged Dove (P,L)

Great Kiskadee (P,L)

Golden-fronted Woodpecker (P,L)

Least Grebe (P,L)

Green Kingfisher (P,L)

Canyon Towhee (P,L)

Rufous-crowned Sparrow (P,L)

Other

Texas Indigo Snake (L)

Texas Tortoise (L)

Javalina

Anole (P,L)

Ramah SWA - Part 3

2008-05-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

You might think that this is a blog about Ramah SWA. It isn't, but i'm having a hard time staying away from Ramah. Two years ago the place was completely dried up. Last year there was water but not much wildlife. This year it is thriving.

Here is a Marbled Godwit. I was kneeling down photographing this bird with my tripod at its shortest height when it decided to fly to the other end of the puddle that it was working. With the Bogen gimbal head (see posts below) I was easily able to snap off a few shots. I wasn't expecting much, because the camera wasn't set for flight photography, but I was pleasantly surprised by this shot.

Another Marbled Godwit.

A pair of Willets.

And a Long-billed Dowitcher displaying his wingpit.

Fountain Creek Regional Park

2008-04-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I headed down to the Fountain Creek Regional Park. FCRP is a short distance south of Colorado Springs near the town of Fountain. It contains a series of small to medium size ponds and a river (Fountain Creek). FCRP attracts a lot of ducks in the winter and is know to attract warblers during migration. Due to its close proximity I have been many times. So far I have only seen Yellow-rumped, Yellow and Orange-crowned warblers, but this is Colorado so that is about all I have seen anywhere. Maybe I just can't see warblers. I have been trying out the Bogen 3421 gimbal tripod head. I was very impressed how easy it was to lock-on to small birds flying around in the canopy. I'll post another entry about the Bogen 3421 in a few days.

Here is a Audobon's Yellow-rumped Warbler. The trick is getting them to pose at eye level with a clean background.

And a female. This photo would have been improved with the use of some fill flash. This is somthing that I hope to explore this year.

A Northern Rough-winged Swallow. The Sibley book says that they are uncommon. Fountain Creek Regional Park is a good place to see these swallows.

There were still a few ducks around including this Hooded Merganser. It is difficult to photograph birds that have bright white and black markings on a sunny day. This duck allowed me to get closer than any other Hooded Merganser that I have encountered. Unfortunately most of the photos that I took had loss of detail in the whites and the blacks. This is the best photo and it also suffers from exposure problems.

Ramah SWA - Part 2

2008-04-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

On Saturday April 26th I returned to Ramah. This turned out to be a good decision because I added 2-4 new birds to my life and photo list. Two were easily identified Plovers and 2 were Sandpipers that i'm still working on. This turned out to be the best shorebird photography experience of my life (probably because I live in Colorado and haven't taken a trip out of state since I started doing wildlife photography).

After a slow start I found myself laying in the mud surounded by plovers, sandpipers and phalaropes.

After a few minutes of photographing sandpipers I noticed this Semipalmated Plover.

Then this white plover came running by. I knew that it was either a Snowy Plover or a Piping Plover but wasn't sure which. Either way I was extremly happy because both are rare and I have never seen either reported at Ramah. It turned out to be a Snowy Plover.

Photography Note: The white around the eye in this photo is slightly over exposed. When photographing small white birds against a dark background it is important to make adjustments so that the subject is not over exposed. In this photograph I used -1 exposure compensation to compensate for this but it wasn't quite enouugh. With Canon DSLRs there are two ways to check if you have over exposed areas. The first is to enable highlight alert. The second is to check the histogram. The problem that I have is that the flashing area of the over exposed spots, when highlight alert is enabled, can be very difficult to see outside on a sunny day. This is especially true when the overexposed area is very small.

Ramah SWA

2008-04-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

In search of Marbled Godwit

Last weekend I headed over to Ramah State Wildlife Area to search for the Marbled Godwit that had been reported.

Ramah is located about 37 miles northeast of Colorado Springs. It may be the best shorebird location in El Paso county. It's only average for photograhy. The angle of the sun is just a little less than ideal and the shore always has a lot of algae.

I was not able to locate the Godwit but I did find several Wilson's Phalarope working the shore line. Without too much difficulty I was able to get fairly close and snapped a few pictures before a hawk flew over and scared the Phalaropes back into the middle of the water. I decided to wait where I was and within about a minute one of the Phalaropes swam back to where I was and did some posing.

After a little while Lesser Yellow-legs flew in and chased off the Phalarope.

Before I left a couple of White-faced Ibis flew in for a short stay.