Ten days ago at Santa Clara Ranch, the temperature soared to over 100 degrees so most wild critters were coming to water several times a day.  Surprisingly, most of the birds were well feathered and  colorful, so all we had to do was remain cool and quiet in the photo blind and enjoy the photography.

Here are a few shots from that weekend:

Remember to click on an image to enlarge and sharpen it.

On Saturday morning, we had 6 crested caracaras, two Harris’s hawks and several black and turkey vultures attracted to the food we had placed at the hawk blind.

The Canon 100-400 mm lenses were perfect for flight and landing sequences.

I have no idea where this “nut” came from, but a greater roadrunner enjoyed several minutes of play with it.

On Sunday morning, the green jays were extremely active and ready to pose.  This shot was at 1/4000 second, f6.3 and ISO 800.

At times, there was a big crowd gathered around the pond at our blind.

A small flock of 8 wild turkey (mostly this year’s young) came looking for grain at mid-morning.

We saw Groove-billed Anis looking for a drink at two of the blinds.

Many Northern bobwhite quail came by our blind to eat and drink.  It has been a good hatch year.

Several quail enjoyed having others of their kind to chase.  This little guy was impressive with his feathers ruffled.

The white-tailed deer waited until sundown before appearing at the water hole.  Our patience paid off as we got some nice images of two young bucks drinking.

Hope you enjoyed these shots,

Larry