Female Painted Bunting at Laguna Seca Ranch
Made another trip to south Texas last week for some photo blind photography. Had a great time as usual. Thanks again Scott for the invitation and Richard for the six-hour ride down south. Spent Friday morning at Laguna Seca Ranch and Saturday/Sunday at Santa Clara Ranch.
It was a little toasty sitting in the blinds with the temps around 98 deg F in the afternoons but it wasn’t as bad as anticipated. Just felt like another warm summer day in the Houston area. Although, I’m not usually sitting in a box at those temp’s, but it was well worth it.
Larry Ditto was our guide at Laguna Seca . It was great to spend some quality time with Larry again as our paths usually only cross briefly at Galveston’s FeatherFest.
The activity was slow on Friday but there were still lots of birds around. We saw some of the usual suspects, including painted buntings, bobwhite quail, green jays, cardinals, bronzed cowbirds, thrashers, etc.
We only saw one of the brightly colored male buntings for a few seconds but there were several female buntings that came up to the water. It’s always fun to shoot off a burst of photos while they are bathing.
Taken with Canon 1DX with Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
Aperture priority, 1/1250 sec @ F5.0, ISO 3200, spot metering, 500mm
Aperture priority, 1/640 sec @ F5.0, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, 500mm
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers
The first Flycatcher made a nice landing on the branch and then was dive-bombed by another. The first one held his ground. Taken at Laguna Seca Ranch.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/1600 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering
1/2000 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering
Long Billed Thrasher
Long Billed Thrashers showed up at every watering hole at Laguna Seca ranch. They can only be found in South Texas and in eastern Mexico. Lack of sun forced me to break out the flash/better beamer for some fill flash.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/1000 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation,
1/1600 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation, fill flash @ -3 stops with better beamer
1/800 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation, fill flash @ -3 stops with better beamer
Spiked Green Jay
This Green Jay got a punk rocker spiked hair look after he took a bath.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/1000 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
1/1250 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
1/1600 sec @ F9, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
Painted Bunting – Bath Time
Here are some Painted Bunting photos from my trip to Laguna Seca ranch. This was my first opportunity to see these up close. A member of the Cardinal family, they are tiny little birds but you can’t miss them with those colors. The male is brightly colored and the females are yellow-green in color. They hung out in the foliage and only came out to bathe when we were there.
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/2000 sec @ F9, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation
1/1000 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering
1/800 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering
1/1000 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering
1/800 sec @ F8, ISO 1600, evaluative metering
Trip to South Texas Ranch – Green Jay
Made my first trip to South Texas a couple of weeks ago for some very cool bird photography at Laguna Seca ranch, near Edinburg TX, about 40 miles from Mexico. Thanks again Beth for the invitation. Laguna Seca is set up with several blinds for morning and afternoon photography. My first experience at shooting from a blind, but it won’t be my last as I’ll be heading back there again next year. Our guide, Ruth Hoyt, did an excellent job and I would highly recommend her. It was a slow time of year for Raptors but we did get did get to see several species of birds along with a few ground squirrels that put on quite a show.
We got lucky that the rain held off for the most part but it was cloudy both mornings, which made for some low light conditions. Had to break out the flash/better beamer, which I haven’t used for over a year.
When I told Ruth that my goal was to get some Green Jay photos, she said that wouldn’t be a problem as they were abundant. They showed up at each of the blinds so I was a happy camper.
http://www.lagunasecaranch.com/
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/800 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
1/250 sec @ F7.1, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation, fill flash with Better Beamer (-3 stops)
1/1000 sec @ F10, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
Tim Timmis Photography 