Larry Ditto Nature Photography

I posted a fresh workshop schedule last week.  It’s not complete…I hope to add something on Big Bend and hummingbirds, but haven’t nailed down the dates.  If any of you have an idea for a fresh venue, I’d be happy to try something new.  Does anybody want to do British Columbia next summer for loons and other birds?  We can do it at a great place.  They are just waiting for me to say the word.

On September 24, I will have a nature photography showing at the First State Bank in Uvalde.  The bank is huge and loaded with wonderful paintings.  If you are in the area, please do drop by, enjoy my wildlife and landscape prints and see the Bank’s great art collection.  I’ll have more details later.

Here are a few shots from recent outings around south Texas.  Remember, just click in the upper right portion of any photo and it will open to a larger, brighter, sharper view and then you can click through the show.

Male Black-chinned Hummingbird hovering

Wet and scruffy male Black-chinned Hummngbird drinking at Turk's Cap flower.

 

Several black-chinned hummingbirds are still around the flowers and feeders in Zapata, Texas.  Indeed, the desert-like conditions in that area can hold the hummingbirds in wet and dry years.  Be looking for my next hummer workshop in September.

   

 

This Eastern Cottontail didn't want his photo taken.

  

Come and shoot with me on one of the south Texas ranches, and I will show you how to get this kind of shot.

 This Long-billed Thrasher photo was taken at 1/4000 second…a little faster than necessary.

 

Hook-billed Kite carrying a snail in its beak.

 

Adult Hook-billed Kite searching for snails on mesquite and retama limbs near the Rio Grande

  

I was extremely lucky this past week to locate a hook-billed kite feeding on snails near the Rio Grande.  Occasionally, birders find this species in thick woodlands, but I had been waiting 20 years to get this close.  The second photo is minus a distracting limb or two (thanks to Photoshop).   Both shots were taken with the Canon 1D Mark III, 500 mm IS Canon lens, 1.4X teleconverter, Wimberley head, and Gitzo tripod.  The flight shot was at 1/1600 second.

White morph of the Reddish Egret; young begging for fish.

 

Roseate Spoonbill with nice breeding plumage.

 

Most of the young wading birds were off the nest and feeding on their own by late June.  For a few days, they will try to get mom to feed them.  I took this photo from a pop-up blind near the edge of the Laguna Madre in early morning while the young were begging food.

Several roseate spoonbills flew past my blind.  The challenge was getting a photo with the wings in an interesting position.

That’s it for this week.  Keep watching for workshop and photo tour updates.

Larry

 

 

This entry was posted on Monday, July 5, 2010 at 7:37 pm and is filed under Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.