Photo ABCs

Great Blue Heron

A Great Blue Heron, photographed at the Salton Sea in January, 2019.

Long-tailed Duck

The Long-tailed Duck breeds in the arctic and spends winters along both Canadian coasts and part of New England's coast.

I saw breeding Long-tailed Ducks when I visited St. Paul Island, Alaska, last summer.

This bird, either a female or immature male, strayed into the Bolsa Chica reserve in January, 2019. Thanks to my friend and birder Shirley Reynolds for pointing it out to me. Unfortunately the sun had already set and the light was quite dim, but I managed to get this picture.

Snow Geese

More Snow Geese, in the late afternoon light, this time photographed at the Salton Sea in January, 2019.

Bosque del Apache: VIII

Abstract Snow Geese:

1. Blast-off!

If the foreground goose's head had been in focus it would have been a much better shot! I still like it.

2. A long exposure at twilight.

Bosque del Apache VII

The visitor center at Bosque del Apache has a number of bird feeders which attract a wide variety of birds.

Here are a few:

Lesser Goldfinch:

House Finch:

Red-winged Blackbird. There was an orange-colored wall behind one of the feeders. I tried numerous times to get birds in focus as they came to the feeder, this was one of the successful shots.

Pyrrhuloxia, male:

Pyrrhuloxia, female:

 

Bosque del Apache VI

Mule Deer at Bosque del Apache:

Bosque del Apache V

A Bald Eagle flies over Bosque del Apache:

A Bald Eagle joins its mate atop a snag in one of the ponds at Bosque del Apache, backlit by the morning clouds. If the eagle sitting there had had its head in profile then this picture would have been much better!

 

 

Bosque del Apache IV: Waterfowl

Winter in New Mexico means wintering waterfowl.

Northern Shovelers:

Northern Pintails:

Mallard:

American Wigeons:

Bosque del Apache III: Sandhill Cranes

Seeing Sandhill Cranes is always a thrill, hearing their unusual cackling from miles away is even more thrilling. Thousands of Sandhill Cranes spend the winter at Bosque del Apache, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Two cranes arrive to their morning feeding area.

Two more arrive.

A brief squabble.

Cranes silhouetted against the late afternoon clouds.

After sunset:

Bosque del Apache Part II: Snow Geese

More photos from Bosque del Apache, from a trip around New Year's of 2020.

Our first and last morning we attempted to photograph the Snow Goose "blast-off" as they left en masse from their morning assembly pond to other feeding areas.

The first morning they seemed to leave in dribs and drabs, so I didn't get a photo of a massive take-off.

A goose arrives to the "assembly" pond before sunrise:

Another decides to leave.

Two geese takeoff from the morning pond, well after the deepest color had faded from the morning sky.

Driving around the reserve, it was easy to find large flocks of Snow Geese. One never knew when they would decide to suddenly take off. Sometimes they might perceive a predator, take off and quickly return to the same area, or sometimes move on to another field.

At sunset geese would begin returning to their evening roosts.

Many of these geese fed well past twilight before returning to their roost. A long exposure was required to see these geese:

Our last morning at the reserve we made a second attempt to capture the "blast-off" from the morning assembly pond. The birds cooperated a bit more.

A Snow Goose loosens up before takeoff (it had just bathed, so I knew it would flap its wings). There are hundreds of birds in the blurred background, slightly more depth-of-field might have been useful here.

Birds begin to depart in groups.

Finally, the remainder blast-off! We saw what many birders come to Bosque for. We would depart for home shortly after.

Tomorrow I'll post lots of Sandhill Crane photos as well as lots of others. Stay tuned!