New Mexico Birds and more…

Seven Texas and Oklahoma photographers joined me in central New Mexico in late November for some warm winter weather and great bird photography.  I’ve included several of their images to show you their bird photography talents.  After skipping a year, it was a lot of fun getting back to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

Click in the upper right portion of a photo to increase size and sharpness and to advance to the next photo.

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Sandhill Crane landing.

Both of these crane photos are by Larry Jay.  Larry and his wife, Sharron, own the Block Creek Bed & Breakfast and photography ranch near Comfort, Texas. It seems to me that he got the composition, light and shutter speed just right.

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Trio of Sandhill Cranes over New Mexico desert.

Oklahoma photographer, Catherine (Kitty) Cromwell made the next photo, an incredible sunset with sandhill cranes going to roost.  Several of us got similar images, but only Kitty nailed the incoming cranes at just the right moment to capture bird silhouettes in the sky.  Believe it or not, this spectacular sunset is typical of winter sunrises and sunsets at Bosque.

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Sunset at the crane pool with the Chupadera Mountains in the background.

Kitty’s husband, Mark, was alert and skilled enough to capture raptors in flight.  The following images are show two female northern harriers fighting and a banking bald eagle over a refuge marsh.

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Northern Harrier females fighting in flight.
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Immature Bald Eagle searching for crippled geese.

As you can tell, birds in flight were a priority for our photography…action and behavior.  We did work on landscapes with a stopover at the White Sands National Monument.  Here is a photo by Tom Pickthall that made the most of a few moments of sunlight during an otherwise cloudy day.

Plant and shadows on a rippling sand dune.
Plant and shadows on a rippling sand dune.

Following are some of my shots to fill out this edition of the newsletter:

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Bald Eagle landing on perch tree at sunrise.

A bald eagle (above) perched above the roosting snow geese each mornings to watch for weak and crippled birds.

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Sandhill Crane with rare set of twins.

I captured several images of cranes (above and below) while they were landing in corn fields or at the roost.

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Sandhill Crane landing in roost pond.
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Sandhill Crane silhouetted against golden water.
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Sandhill Crane with landing gear down.
Drake mallard landing at the crane pool after the larger birds had left to feed.
Drake mallard landing at the crane pool after the larger birds had left to feed.

Most of these flight shots were captured while holding about 1/2000 second of shutter speed.  The exception was sandhill cranes at the roost pond.

Snow geese banking toward the camera.
Snow geese banking toward the camera.

The shot above seems to work because the clouds were were so complimentary.

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Snow geese captured at a slow 1/60th second shutter speed to accentuate the wing blur.

Finally, here are a couple of wood duck photos done at sunrise in Albuquerque.  Next year, I’ll probably start the photo tour there to take advantage of some nice waterfowl portrait opportunities.

Drake wood duck vocalizing as it passes in the warm morning light.
Drake wood duck vocalizing as it passes in the warm morning light.
Hen and drake wood ducks standing on an old tree trunk in a pond.
Hen and drake wood ducks standing on an old tree trunk in a pond.

I hope you enjoyed these.  Bosque del Apache Refuge is a must for all bird photographers.  Fall and winter are the best time to be there.

Larry