Last Wednesday, I headed for South Padre Island hoping to photograph some of the last of 2016’s spring migrant warblers. It was just about the end of the migration but a handful of warblers, hummingbirds and catbirds were still resting and foraging in the Convention Center thicket.
These shots were made in the shadows at a water feature without the aid of photogenic perches. Fortunately, the yellow birds exposed well, even on dead limbs.
Click on a photo to enlarge and sharpen it for better viewing.
Ever try photographing a redstart in low light…twitch, twitch, twitch.
Most of these photos were shot at 1/160th to 1/80th of a second; pretty slow but you work with what you find.
Magnolia warbler looking for water.
Nice bird (Magnolia Warbler), bad perch.
Beautiful but shy Mourning Warbler.
Mourning Warbler, same perch, different head position.
Yellow Warblers bathing
Bath before the long flight home.
Male Yellow Warbler bathing.
Not bad for a “bird on a stick”.
Yellow Warbler male among the limbs.
Yellow Warbler with a hint of orange in it feathers.
It was a tough afternoon, shooting into thick, shaded cover, but those yellow birds made my day.
Last week I had the pleasure of photographing for a few hours at the Christmas Mountains Oasis south of Alpine, Texas. It’s a long way from “Nowhere”, but it is heaven for the birds. Rare and beautiful Lucifer hummingbirds nest on the property and spend much of their time at the Oasis feeders.
A visit to the Oasis is by invitation only, so if you want to have a chance at Lucifer hummingbirds and many other species, sign up for my August 17-18 hummingbird photography workshop. I’ll be posting the particulars on my website under the Photo Tours heading in the next day or two. Eight slots were available and two are already taken.
Here are some images of the oasis and Lucifer hummingbirds:
Click on a photo to enlarge and sharpen it for better viewing.
Lucifer Hummingbird male landing at feeder, west Texas, USALucifer Hummingbird female hovering in flight.
These birds have long, curved beaks and, of course, the males have that incredible purple/pink/lavender…throat. The above shots are in natural light and photographed with the Canon 7D mark II and 500 mm lens with Wimberly head and Feisol tripod.
Christmas Mountains Oasis bird habitat after sunset, s. of Alpine, TexasChristmas Mountains, west Texas.
Lucifer hummingbirds nest in cholla cactus near the top of this mountain. Amazing!!
Lucifer Hummingbird male hovering in flight, west Texas, USA.Lucifer Hummingbird male displaying gorget, w. TexasLucifer Hummingbird male perched.Lucifer Hummingbird male feeding, w. Texas.
The last shot was done with the aid of multiple flashes and artificial background. If you like stop-action hummingbird shots, you can appreciate this image made at about 1/12,000 of a second. I’ll have the setup available at the Christmas Mountains Oasis Hummingbird Photography Workshop in August. To register, contact the folks in charge of the Fort Davis Hummingbird Celebration at Fort Davis (info@fortdavis.com) or contact me by email at lditto@larryditto.com and I’ll get you hooked up.
Like last spring, the Texas hill country caught a lot of rain in April and the bird photography instructional photo tours endured a few overcast, cool and even drizzly days. Nevertheless, we saw a lot of nice birds at Block Creek Natural Area (Turkey Hollow B&B) and at Transition Ranch near Uvalde. I was at Transition all of last week with two groups of photographers where we worked from photo blinds and by walking some of the roads bordered by wildflowers.
A dry spring will bring more birds to the waterholes and food at the blinds, but I think you will see some indications of the ranch’s potential in the following photos.
Remember to click on an image to enlarge and sharpen it for viewing.
Spring wildflowers in the orange glow of sunset.
Except for the image above, I used my 500 mm lens for virtually every shot. This image was made with Canon 5D Mark II and 24-105 mm lens at f22 and tripod mounted.
White-winged dove in black brush at sunset.Northern bobwhite quail calling from a short perch in wildflowers.Mexican ground-squirrel searching an old for bird seed.Lesser goldfinches visited the photo blind waterhole just before sunset.House Finch bonding behavior. The male fed the female.Black-throated Sparrow with a firm grasp of the only landing spot on a prickly pear cactus.
This ash-throated flycatcher was at the blind for only a moment.
Gray Vireo on Transition Ranch west of Uvalde, Texas.
The gray vireo above is pretty rare in the hill country but they can thrive in the diverse habitats of the Transition Ranch.
Summer Tanager, female perched in black brush. Transition RanchSummer Tanager, male at photo blind.Hooded Oriole, male perched in black brush at photo blind.
Various orioles have already begun to nest.
Scott’s Oriole, male in Texas persimmon bush.This cedar waxwing was probably one of the last we’ll see this season.Singing blue-gray gnatcatcher at the afternoon blind.Blue Grosbeak, male in black brush after rain.
Blue grosbeaks were popping up everywhere during the last half of the week (around May 1).
This male lazuli bunting was the first of it’s species photographed on the ranch.Male painted buntings were singing throughout the ranch.Vermilion Flycatcher male perched.
Vermilion flycatchers are among the early nesters at Transition Ranch and one pair fledged their young while we were there in late April.
Western scrub jay perched at Transition Ranch.
This pose of western scrub jay was one of my favorite shots of the week. Slight head-turn makes the photo.
Yellow-breasted chat “chatting”.
In a chattering contest between cactus wrens and yellow-breasted chats, it was a close call to name the winner. They never let up.
Black-capped vireo on Transition Ranch.
Black-capped vireos are found throughout the ranch in abundant mixed thickets of scrubby oak, Texas persimmon and sumac.
Golden-cheeked warbler on juniper, Transition Ranch, Texas.
These little guys love the juniper thickets of Transition Ranch.
As the days grow warmer and dryer, even more birds will find their way to the fresh water and food at the ranch’s photo blinds. Like most south Texas ranches, the bird diversity is wonderful and the photo ops are abundant.
