Posts in Category: New Mexico
New Mexico! Tiny in the bee-balm
Sweat Bee in Bee-balm: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 2024 — The Randall Davey Audubon Center has a small but highly productive native wildflower and plant garden between the buildings. It is full of Bee-balm right now, and the flowers are attracting all kinds of bees, skippers, and even sphinx moths. This tiny little bee is one of the sweat bees and you had to bend down close to see them…they are so small! Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 172mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds and wildlife modifications. Insect Subject Recognition turned on. Processed in Photomator.
New Mexico! Spotted Towhee
Spotted Towhee: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, July 2024 — This and the Eastern Towhees we have in Maine are very similar birds. In fact for many years they were considered the same species…but there are subtle and not so subtle differences. The Spotted is a “louder” bird overall. Its calls, its plumage, the red of the eye…all louder. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
New Mexico! Hummingbird Moth
Though it is often called a hummingbird moth because it looks and acts like a hummer, it is actually a White-lined Sphinx Moth and it was busy among the flowers at the Randall Davey Audubon Center in the hills above Santa Fe, New Mexico yesterday (two actually). I got to test out the insect subject recognition auto focus on the Sony a6700. It works very well…however I had to switch off “silent shutter” as the rolling shutter effect did strange things to the moth’s wings. Propeller effect for sure. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications and Insect Recognition auto focus. Processed in Photomator.
New Mexico! Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA — Not the best light, sitting in deep shade with an adobe building in the background, but still, sitting, and close. One of the more common hummingbirds at the feeders at Randall Davey Audubon in the hills above Santa Fe. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications (1/500th). Processed in Photomator.
New Mexico! Burning Rufous
Rufous Hummingbird: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 2023 — I went back to Randall Davey Audubon Center in the foothills above Santa Fe a second day, with the specific purpose of catching more birds away from the feeders. This Rufous Hummingbird was guarding a feeder and had three perches, two of them in tall pines up the hill, and one in brush at the corner of the building…close enough for detail shots. Catching the gorget flashing was another whole thing! I managed a few shots. OM System OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 800 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
New Mexico! Towhees
Spotted Towhee and Canyon Towhee: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 2023 — The Spotted Towhee was among the most common birds at Randall Davey Audubon Center in the foothills above Santa Fe and I saw at least one Canyon Towhee keeping company. As the name suggests, and as you can see from the photos, the two birds share basic body shape and proportions and habits, though they are often separated by habitat. The Spotted has been in the past, considered the same species as the Eastern Towhee…and was called the Rufous-sided Towhee when I first started birding. (Which dates me.) OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modification. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 1000 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
New Mexico! Black-headed Grosbeak
Black-headed Grosbeak: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, July 2023 — There were at least a couple of pairs, or one male and several female, Black-headed Grosbeaks coming to the feeders at Randall Davey Audubon Center in the foothills above Santa Fe. This is a bird I do not get to see in Maine, though we do have a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks pass through our yard every year. That beak is just amazingly massive! OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixomator Pro. ISO 1600 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
New Mexico! That other rufous…
Rufous Hummingbird: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, July 2023 — If you have spent time around Rufous Hummingbirds, you have seen the “other” iridescent color of the Rufous gorget. The light has to be just right but that green flash is pretty striking…it is most often seen in indirect light, when the bird is in the shade. It is rare to see it as you do in this photo, with strong illumination. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 2000 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
New Mexico! Rufous Hummingbird
Female or sub-adult male Rufous Hummingbird: Randell Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 2023 — There were all most as many of these birds at the Randell Davey Audubon Center in the foothills above Santa Fe as there were full adult males, though they were not “guarding” feeders. I am sure some of them were females, but some were probably sub-adult males. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 250 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
New Mexico! Juniper Titmouse
Juniper Titmouse: Randell Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, July 2023 — The Juniper Titmouse has the second largest range of the North American Titmice, second only to the Tufted Titmouse which spreads itself across all of the US east of the great plains. The Juniper Titmouse, as the name suggests, inhabits the dry mid-elevations of the southwest, in oak-juniper or pinion-juniper scrublands. It is less present than the Tufted is in its range and visits feeders less often, so I was happy to see it around the Audubon center in the foothills above Santa Fe. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/640th.