I split up my photos from the last two months into two separate galleries, one for Central New Mexico and one for Northern New Mexico. After some beautiful time photographing fall color in early October, I didn't do much local photography for the rest of the month, largely since I spent half of it on Oahu and Hawai'i. November has been a good month locally, though, with wonderful conditions at Bosque del Apache, some fun sessions with Wood Ducks, and the usual birds of the Jemez Mountains.
I spent last week on the big island of Hawai'i. I had little luck with the endemic forest birds, and spent only limited time with other birds, but the non-avian aspects of the trip were great. Especially the lava! Spending a whole night standing on a mountainside, on a few inches of solidified lava over a great molten flow, with my tripod feet melting, breathing sulfur fumes and watching the trees in the forest blaze up, was an experience I'll not soon forget. What a spectacular place. I hope to have many more opportunities to visit there in the future. For now, here are photos from the trip.
Late summer is a great time for wildflowers in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. I just added a new gallery with a few images from right here in town - mostly wildflowers, but with the obligatory couple of birds. One of these days I'll post an update gallery without any birds... really I will...
New galleries have been added with images from two trips to Maxwell NWR and environs, including prairie dogs, pronghorns, a variety of sparrows, and a few other subjects. The first trip was especially good, with the opportunity to photograph Sabine's Gulls and a Baird's Sparrow. The second trip was intended to be focused more intensely on sparrows, but they weren't as cooperative as hoped, though I did get a few photos. In addition to these trips to the plains, I've also been doing some photography here in the mountains, the results of which will be posted within a few weeks (or months, depending on how busy I am).
With the gallery added today, from Southeast Arizona, Tringa.org is now completely up to date! Yay! Time to get out in the field and start falling behind again...
At long last, Tringa.org has been updated. It's still not completely up to date, but at least now it is close. Two new galleries were added today: one from my April trip to the Upper Texas Coast, and one with miscellaneous pictures from around New Mexico (and one picture from Colorado), spanning March - June. I've recently taken a two-month photography hiatus, while I attend to the work that I actually get paid for, but I'm hoping to get back to photography later this summer or in early fall.
It's been a finchy couple of months in Northern New Mexico! Starting in late winter we had a big movement of Cassin's Finches into the area, and, a short time later, numerous Evening Grosbeaks appeared. At the same time, Rosy Finches continued on in the high mountains. More recently, I've been noticing good numbers of Pine Siskins in the area, but so far this spring they have eluded my camera (though the complete finches gallery has images of them from last fall and earlier). The gallery added today contains only my recent finch photos. I've also been photographing the local warblers, sparrows, and other birds, but I haven't had time to process and upload those images yet. Four fantastic days of photography on the Upper Texas Coast last weekend has only added to the backlog of images. My new computer will be arriving next week, and image processing should proceed at a much higher rate once I have it set up, so I hope to get this site up to date soon.
Although Sandia Crest is famous for its abundant Rosy Finches, I have found them to be difficult subjects to photograph. After many trips and many hours of photography, most of them fruitless, I have finally taken some Rosy Finch photos that I hope show the beauty of these alpine-dwelling birds. They are posted along with a few other photos in a new gallery. Most of my time spent photographing Rosy Finches was at Sandia Crest, but I also had some productive sessions in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I would love to visit the Rosy Finches again before they depart for the year, but I'm not sure I'll have time to do it. At least I finally have some photos I'm happy with, which will make it much easier to wait for the return of the Rosy Finches next winter.
Photos from my recent South Texas trip have now been posted. This was my second trip to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and I enjoyed revisiting several of my favorite places from my previous trip in 2003. I also explored a few new areas that I thought would be good for photography. Green Jays, Kiskadees, and Chachalacas proved to be every bit as abundant and delightful as on my previous trip, and I also got to see some of the rarer lower valley specialties, such as Tropical Parula and Clay-colored Robin. One of my all-time favorite birding areas, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, has changed quite a bit in the last five years - the old trailer loop is no more, and you can no longer drive through the park - but for those who don't mind a lot of walking it continues to be a great area for birding and photography. Quinta Mazatlan proved to be excellent for photography as well. I had only four days on this trip, which sadly limited the number of places I could visit, and I never even made it to some of my favorite lower valley spots, such as Santa Ana NWR. Revisiting those places will have to wait until next winter at the earliest.
Two new galleries have been added recently: one with photos from a variety of Central New Mexico locations including Sandia Crest, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, and White Sands National Monument, and one with photos from a holiday trip to Oregon. I'm hoping to make at least one more Sandia Crest trip this winter, since I feel that my Rosy Finch pictures don't come close to doing these remarkable birds justice. Also in the plans is a South Texas trip in mid-February.