Posts in Category: Santa Fe
Grey-headed Junco
Dark-eyed Junco, Grey-headed race: Bear Canyon Trail, Santa Fe National Forest, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — This Grey-headed Junco was busy in the leaf litter finding what appeared to be dried out grasshopper-like insects…they might have still been alive…but they were certainly dry looking. A fledgling was following the Junco around, and getting a good many of the bugs that were found. This bird was very confiding…it was busy at work while I photographed it for many minutes without flushing. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 160 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Rufous Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — Rufous Hummingbirds do not live in New Mexico…which is to say they do not breed here — but they are often the dominant species during fall migration, arriving back in the state in August in high numbers. They are also aggressive in defending feeders and stands of flowering plants, so they are hard to miss. After years now in the east where we only have Ruby-throat hummers, I was happy to meet this gentleman at the Randall Davey Audubon Center, guarding a feeder that I never actually saw him use…though several female Rufous hummers were active at it. Sony Rx10iv at 1200mm equivalent (600mm optical plus 2x Clear Image Zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th. + 1 EV exposure compensation.
Cooper’s Hawk in deep
Cooper’s Hawk, Santa Fe Canyon Preserve, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — Sometimes you just have to take the view you can get. 🙂 This Cooper’s Hawk was supper cooperative in that it stayed put for as long as I needed for photographs, and super uncooperative in that it stayed deep in the foliage and never presented an unobscured view. There was always a branch or a leaf (and often both) between it and my camera. I spent a good 20 minutes scuttling back and forth on the trail looking for lines of sight through the foliage, and managed some, I think, satisfying shots, but it was real work. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. + 1 EV exposure bias.
Yellow is the color
Yellow is the color of the flowers of Arroyo Hondo Open Space in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August…or at least the predominate color. These are from a morning hike there with our daughter Anna. There were heavy thundershowers later in the day, so who knows what new treasures will bloom today. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Assembled in FrameMagic.
Cedar Waxwings at Arroyo Hondo
Cedar Waxwings, Arroyo Hondo Open Space, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
We went walking at Arroyo Hondo Open Space on the southeastern edge of Santa Fe yesterday morning. While the more vigorous hikers did the loop down toward the stream, I took the trail that stops gently up to the top of the hill, and was rewarded by a flock of 30-40 Cedar Waxwings. They circled around the hill several times, just close enough to see what they were, and then settled in interior of a large bushy pine. They remained there, buried in the foliage, but I was able to walk up relatively closely and catch them through the branches when they perched in slightly more open spots. There are 4 in this shot.
Sony RX10iii. 600MM equivalent field of view. In-camera HDR. Processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
Figures in the foreground
Carol and Anna, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background.
A front was coming through Santa Fe yesterday. We got out in the morning to walk along the lower Santa Fe river along the bike path while the sun was still shining…though it was completely overcast by the time we got back to the car. This is my wife Carol and my daughter Anna, who is in grad-school in Santa Fe. We are on a bridge over the Santa Fe river channel. You can just see the snow caps on the Sangre de Cristos far back under the mountain effect clouds. They are expecting 2-4 inches of snow out of the storm today, so this landscape will look considerably different by tomorrow. 🙂
Sony HX90V in-camera HDR at 24mm equivalent. I really enjoy the subtle HDR effect of the Sony, which makes landscape portraits like this very pleasing. Nominal exposure 1/1600th @ ISO 80 @ f3.5.
Cactus Garden
Native cactus, Arroyo Hondo Open Space, Santa Fe NM
My assignment for yesterday morning was to find somewhere to hike around Santa Fe. With the help of Google and the Trails Alliance of Santa Fe I found Arroyo Hondo Open Space. It is right at the east edge of the city, near the top of the first pass on 25 North. After some false starts due to my thinking I could find it without consulting the gps, we got there. There is a nice parking area (and even a portapody) and an extensive loop of trail through Pinion Juniper habitat with too many varieties of cactus to count. It must be glorious when in bloom. There were a few wildflowers still in bloom in August…and the views were amazing. They say on a clear day you can see Mt. Taylor, 90 miles to the west, and the views south and west over the Sandias are spectacular. On the other side of the hill you overlook Santa Fe, and the Santa Fe mountains rise to the North. All in all a great place to spend an afternoon (or morning…morning would be cooler in August 🙂
This little grouping of cacti and rocks looks like something a landscape gardener would have designed…and my compliments to the master gardener!
Sony HX90V in-camera HDR at 160mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 80 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
Comma in New Mexico
Comma Butterfly, Randell Davies Audubon Sanctuary, Santa Fe NM
I know, there is no comma in New Mexico, but I mentioned in the Mourning Cloak post a few days ago that we had also seen a Comma / Question Mark butterfly up Bear Canyon at the Randell Davies Audubon Sanctuary, but I was not sure which one. The distinguishing feature is a small mark on the back of the wing, and it certainly takes some imagination even then (or it does for me). However, in researching a bit last week I found that you can reliably distinguish Comma form Question Mark from above. This is definitely a Comma. It has the heavily fringed wings and the correct pattern of dots and dashes on the fore-wing. I think, actually, that makes it my first Comma, and certainly an unexpected butterfly for canyon high above Santa Fe, New Mexico in March.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Steller’s Jay
Steller’s Jay. Santa Fe Canyon Preserve
What with one thing and another, we have not had a bird in a while here at Pic for Today 🙂 When we visited Santa Fe Canyon Nature Conservancy Preserve earlier in the week, all the jays. and there were quite a few, were Pinion. We went back yesterday for a short hike after a day a the museums, and I was surprised to find that all the jays were Steller’s. It was a rainy day, and quite cold compared to earlier in the week, so I suppose that might have brought the Steller’s Jays down to lower elevation (and driven the Pinion Jays still lower). Steller’s Jay is a handsome bird, and even the damp cold day and dim light could not diminish it.
Sony HX400V at 2400mm (1200 optical plus 2x Clear Image Zoom). 1/320th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Anna in the Cavate
Anna at Bandelier National Mounment, NM
Though Carol and I lived in New Mexico for 12 years, Anna, our third daughter, was only 2 when we moved to Maine, so she has no memory of place…or should not! Yet she says she felt like “coming home” when she got to Santa Fe a few months ago. I told her she might have some buried memories, but, in fact, I felt the same why when I first got to New Mexico, and I was born in upstate New York. It is something in the landscape that speaks to certain souls (and equally, does not speak to others). Anyway, we took Anna to Bandelier National Monument for her first visit yesterday, and returned for our first in well over 25 years. It is such a great place! Anna had climbed into one of the cavates (improved pockets in the tuff stone, used as dwellings, for storage, or for ceremonial purposes). Who could resist?
Sony HX400V in-camera HDR. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.