Lazuli Bunting

I have been slowly wading through and editing my bird images from last Wednesday. I think this image is my favorite image so far. Every year there are a pair of Lazuli Buntings that love to taunt me by weaving in and out of the fence line at the gardens edge. They are extremely difficult to photograph! This year the fence has been removed as they are replacing it. The female came by the bird feeder first followed secretively by the male. She dove under the feeder and he went after her. They mated and then the male popped up onto this perch next to the feeder. It was just long enough for me to make three exposures. They are such a beautiful bird. Image created with with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens. Camera settings used were AVmode, ISO 800,F 9.0 at 1/640th of a sec.Camera was supported by a Manfrotto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead. God's love and blessings to all, chris

Beautiful Birds

These are some birds from last Thursday and Friday. Friday in particular. The birds just wouldn't stop coming in. It was almost non stop through out the morning. The majority were House Finches with a few other birds like Steller's Jays, Oak Titmouses and Lazuli Buntings thrown in. Even a California Ground Squirrel came by for a visit to the bird feeders. God's light and love to all, chris

Procrastination Can Have Its' Rewards

Yesterday dawned rather gloomy with gray skies and some rain. My intention was to stay home pay the bills and work on the manuscript for my new book. About ten minutes after making this momentous decision the skies in the valley below were filled with glorious light.The winds of change were upon me and I immediately decided to put off the toils of labor and go play. I made a few images of the clouded valley below. Then I loaded up my pick up, called to a more than eager Badger the Photoblind Dog and we were on our way to the Burris Ranch. It was a great decision. I ended up photographing a Lazuli Bunting, Lawrences Gold Finches (Thank you Judy and Ron for the ID), California Valley Quail and some superb images of House Finches.Oh, and a California Ground Squirrel as well. I had a wonderful day. Now I need to get back to work. Hmmnn, the lighting looks pretty good down in the valley... God's love and blessings to all, chris

First Day in the New Spot

This morning I got up bright and early. I took Jay to school and headed out to the Burris Ranch for some bird photography. Today was the first day of using my photoblind at its new location on the ranch. As I walked up the hill I was glad to see a couple of Scrub Jays and an Acorn Woodpecker using the feeders I had set up. After a bit of fussing around on my part I ended up moving the feeders and the blind about ten feet and knocking my camera over in the process. OOPS! I finally got it right and settled in. There weren't too many birds at first (probably because I moved the feeders) and then it started to pick up with the Jays and the House Finches coming in. Some California valley Quail came by but I didnt have any platform feeders or ramps set up for them to use so they just stayed on the ground and ate spilt birdseed. It was a good learning morning and when I came out of the photoblind I made a lot of changes to improve my next visit. Walking down the hill through the pasture

I discovered a dragonfly in the weeds. It reminded me now that dragonfly season has started I need to check out the pond. I also stopped by the honey bee nest and discovered that they have indeed taken up residence in the madrone tree and are adding combs to their hive structure in the branches. After leaving the ranch I spotted a Lazuli Bunting in a tree alongside the road. It made for a nice environmental portrait. Which means I couldn't get close to it for a tight image. God's light and love to all, chris

My Holy Grail

For the past two years I have been taunted by a pair of birds that I have been unable to photograph. They are a pair of Lazuli Buntings that always just hang around the periphery of the pasture where I have been photographing. I have photographed them numerous times from a distance but nothing ever that makes the bird really stand out in the image. This week they actually started coming to the feeder. The problem was that they would go directly to the feeder and not stop anywhere photogenic along the way. Today was different though. They started stopping on these two rocks for just a second or so before they would go to the feeder. I focused my camera on one rock at a time for a long,long time. My technique worked and I was able to make a few images of them today. They are an incredibly beautiful bird.

God's light and precious love to all,

chris