Posts in Category: Texas
12/10/2011: North Texas Meadowlark
As I mentioned, I am in North Texas for a few days (headed home today), helping with a training for ZEISS Sports Optics, which was held at Wildcater Ranch near Graham. Yesterday afternoon, after most folks packed up and headed back to Dallas and home, I had some time to do a little birding on the high bluff where the ranch restaurant and conference center is located. It is early winter here (they had snow on the ground when we arrived) but I found an interesting mix of birds…Cardinals, Cedar Waxwings, Juncos, Eastern Bluebirds, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Goldfinches prominent among them.
The meadowlarks were alternating between feeding on the ground and perching high, in trees and on the power line that crossed by path. I could not catch them on the ground, but I managed a few shots when they went up high.
And I can’t resist putting in this chance shot…the last in a sequence. This is a crop for composition.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm optical zoom plus 2x digital tel-converter for 1680mm equivalent. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness. (Some additional local sharpening on the last shot.)
12/8/2011: Prickly Pear, Arroyo Colorado WBC
By an odd coincidence (I don’t actually believe in coincidence, but it makes a neat shorthand for “I have not yet figured out why”) I am back in Texas for the second time in less than a month. North Texas this time. Graham, in fact, which according to the brochure in the hotel lobby, is The Gem of North Texas. Eventually you will see the sunset pics I took last night from the high bluff south of town, but for today, to keep it in Texas, I will return to the Rio Grande Valley and Arroyo Colorado World Birding Center in Harlingen Texas. I popped out there after setting up my booth at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival last month. Bird life, as I detailed in another post, was sparse (totally the wrong time of day), but there were dragonflies, and some very interesting light effects on the forest of tree-like prickly pear cactus. As I was working the area, I zoomed in on this tight composition of a single pad. I love the way the light is caught in the spines, and the receding planes of focus behind the pad in the foreground…and the general geometry of the curves.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 200. Program with iContrast and –1/3ED exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
12/3/2011: Long-billed Thrasher, Edinburg Wetlands
Long-billed Thrashers are not elusive birds, but they are quick and spend a lot of time deep in brush, so they can be difficult to photograph. This is my best shot to date, taken at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands and World Birding Center in Edinburg Texas. In the past I have always tried to digiscope them…using a Point and Shoot behind the eyepiece of a spotting scope, and that is particularly difficult with this active bird. Now that I am carrying the Canon SX40HS with its long zoom and useful digital tel-converter, I have a better chance of grabbing a quick shot. This bird sat long enough for a few frames…and then was gone.
Canon SX40HS at full 840mm equivalent zoom, plus 1.5x digital converter, for 1260mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 200. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And another from the same sequence.
12/2/2011: White-faced Ibis, Estero Llano Grande, TX
The small lake right off the observation deck of the Visitor Center at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center near Weslaco TX is always good for dabbling ducks, grebes, herons, and ibii. Often you do not even need a super-long telephoto, but, of course, more reach makes for more intimate images. This shot of a White-faced Ibis was taken with the Canon SD100HS behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope for an 1250mm equivalent. The light was marginal, and there was a bit of mist in the air, but it is still a good portrait of an interesting bird.
1/100th @ ISO 100, f4 effective. Program.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
12/1/2011: Black Saddlebags Mating Wheel, Sabal Palms TX
I have really gotten into dragonflies this year, for some unknown reason. I am always looking for them, and, since it is new, I can generally find a new bug on most trips. The difference between this and birding is that I am photographing every dragonfly I see…or at least every dragonfly I can catch perched. I saw many Black Saddlebags this summer in Maine…they are so distinctive they are easy to identify on the wing…but it was several months before I found one sitting where I could photograph it.
On my recent trip to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Black Saddlebags were everywhere but, again, perched Black Saddlebags were scarce. I was delighted to find this mating wheel within a step or two of the upland trail at Sabal Palms Sanctuary near Brownsville. This shot is at 840mm equivalent from about 4.5 feet (closest focus).
Engaging the 1.5x digital converter provided this more macro view of the head grip the male has on the female.
Or there is this view showing the male’s wings to good advantage, taken at 840mm equivalent plus 2x digital converter.
1) Exposure Time:0.0015s (1/640) Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200 2) Exposure Time:0.002s (1/500)Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200 3) Exposure Time:0.0025s (1/400) Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And I did see several Red Saddlebags at Santa Anna NWR…but no photo yet!
11/29/2011: Evil (?) Grebe, Sabal Palms TX
The Least Grebe is either very cute or very evil depending on your point of view…your mood…or maybe your disposition. These shots are at Sabal Palm Sanctuary near Brownsville Texas, and are typical of the Least Grebe look. I think, for me, the yellow eye with the dark overhanging brow and that dagger beak always over-ride the fluffy behind parts to tip the scale to the evil side. Besides I have seen a Least Grebe come its body length up out of the water to take a dragonfly out of the air. It had the killer instinct! Once you have seen that you can never look at a Least Grebe quite the same again.
Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent (840mm optical zoom plus 2x digital converter). f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200. Program with iContrast and -1/3rd EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
11/28/2011: Cryptic Coloration, Common Pauraque
There is a Common Pauraque at Estero Llano Grande World Birding Center that roost right beside one of the main trails, and has done so for at least three years. It roost so close to the foot traffic that the park has added a long thin pile of thorny brush right there to keep people from walking on the bird. Of course the brush pile actually makes birders’ lives easier. You used the have to have someone who already knew show you the bird. Now you just look behind the brush pile until you see it. If you see it. It is generally there alright but many a birder (not to mention regular citizen) has looked right at this bird for any number of moments and come away without seeing the bird. It is the epitome of cryptic coloration. To say it blends with its habitat is an understatement. It disappears in its habitat.
I am pretty certain I have posted this bird in the past, from other visits to Texas, but it amazes me every year.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/60th @ ISO 800. Programed auto with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And here is a view from the other side.
11/26/2011: House Wren, Edinburg Wetlands TX
 |
 |
 |
 |
I have never had much luck photographing House Wrens (and if you remember the last “house wren” images I posted were actually a Winter Wren holding its tail funny). But every dog has its day, as the saying goes, and a Sunday visit to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands World Birding Center, in Edinburg TX was mine…or the wren’s…or something…call it a confluence of opportunity. There were House Wrens signing all through the butterfly gardens and along the ponds at ESWWBC that day. Photographically they were a problematic as ever, mostly, skulking in the deep bush, popping out of sight as soon a sighted, playing hard to get. This specimen however was at the head of the boardwalk to the observation platform on the back side of the pond across the road from the Visitor Center, and seem determined to hold his ground while I shot off a series of images. Still difficult, still buried in the bushy tree, still with no clear line of sight…but, amazingly, when I looked at the images on my laptop…in focus and by far the best shots I have gotten to date of the House Wren. (All the images open at a larger viewing sizes by clicking the image.)
Canon SX40HS at 1250mm equivalent (627mm optical plus 2x digital-converter). f5.8 @ 1/250th @ ISO 800. Program with iContrast. –1/3EV exposure compensation. (This is very impressive performance for ISO 800 in a Point and Shoot camera!)
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And, yes, I probably should go in and clone out that strange little “bird foot shaped” twiggy thing in front of the bird…but these shots are SO how you see a House Wren that I am tempted (so far successfully) to leave it in. 🙂
11/25/2011: Kiskadee Corner, Edinburg Wetlands WBC
Kiskadees (technically Great Kiskadees) are hard to resist. They are very present and very vocal residents of the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, and I have already posted a set from Sabel Palms Sanctuary near Brownsville. This bird, who posed for a portrait through the spotting scope, was at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands World Birding Center in Edinburg Texas. This shot was taken at an equivalent focal length of almost 4000mm with a Canon SD100HS camera behind the 15-56x Vario eyepiece of a ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. The extreme magnification yields fine feather details, but also creates a attractive bokah behind the bird. Indirect lighting also helps maintain detail. The catch light in the eye is a bonus!
1/100th second at ISO 500. f11 effective (limited by the 65mm aperture of the scope). Program with –1/3EV exposure compensation.
And, just for interest, a little googling shows that there is indeed a Lesser Kiskadee, resident in South America and the Caribbean islands. Who knew?
And a few bonus shots.
11/22/2011: Peek-a-boo, Red-shouldered Hawk
We are back from our travels for the moment, having been, in the past two weeks, in both the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and New Mexico (Harlingen and Bosque del Apache near Socorro). I have large back-log of scenics and bird shots to post over the next while, so brace yourselves 🙂
This is an immature Red-Shouldered Hawk that apparently thought the few leaves between us hid him from view…as he was sitting no more than 30 feet from the main access trail at Santa Anna National Wildlife Refuge where at least our whole bus-load of birders got to admire him. This shot was taken with a Canon SD100HS point and shoot camera through the eyepiece of a ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. You can see the out of focus foliage in front of the bird, but, though I could find no clear line of sight, the highly selective focus on the spotting scope made focusing through the foliage possible. It was also a matter of timing as the brisk breeze was moving the leaves so that the head and eye of the bird were only sometimes clear and well lighted. I was shooting bursts of 4 frames per second shots and selected the best for final processing.
Canon SD100HS behind the eyepiece of the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of something like a 1200mm lens on a full frame DSLR. 1/100th @ ISO 100. f4 effective.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And another with the zoom on the camera run up to max at 4x.
And, just for fun, a comparison shot from the Canon SX40HS at full optical plus 2x digital tel-converter for an 1680mm equivalent field of view.
