It is almost impossible to edit the thousands of photos one accumulates over the winter season. This week, I got back to the Bosque del Apache photos from December. Then, I drove out to the Santa Clara Ranch hawk blind yesterday. The photos you will see in this newsletter show a few more of the New Mexico birds plus a surprise from the hawk blind.
Deep south Texas has had quite a few Mexico bird sightings this winter. Two weeks ago, Alan Williams invited me to his habitat in Pharr where a female crimson-collared grosbeak (a Mexican species) was wintering. The bird was certainly cooperative, but I do wish these things would travel in pairs. The males are always tough to see north of the border.
I hear there are lots of ducks in the Laguna Madre and around the Rockport area right now. If the weather cooperates, I hope to hear for Rockport again next week.
![Crimson-collared Grosbeak_Larry Ditto_MG_1855 Female crimson-collared grosbeak eating potato tree fruit.](http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Crimson-collared-Grosbeak_Larry-Ditto_MG_1855-199x300.jpg)
![Harris's Hawk_Larry Ditto_70K4249 Harris's hawk landing on perch at Santa Clara Ranch.](http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Harriss-Hawk_Larry-Ditto_70K4249-300x199.jpg)
This Harris’s hawk landing sequence should have been the highlight of my day yesterday, but there was a big surprise awaiting me and the Harris family. Both shots were taken with the Canon 1D Mark III, Canon 100-400 IS zoom lens at 400 mm at ISO 800, 1/2000 @ f 5.6, hand-held. I find that I have more control to keep flying birds in the viewfinder when I am free of the tripod. Of course, this requires a high shutter speed to eliminate camera shake, but I keep the speed high anyway to stop the birds in flight.
![Harris's Hawk_Larry Ditto_70K4251 Harris's hawk landing](http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Harriss-Hawk_Larry-Ditto_70K4251-300x199.jpg)
A few minutes after shooting the landing sequence above, a white-tailed hawk swooped in on the perch to get a share of the beef kidney tied at the lower end of the perch branch. It was my first time to see whitetails eating something they didn’t catch alive.
![White-tailed Hawk_Larry Ditto_70K4264 Although larger than the Harris's hawk, this white-tailed hawk was eventually chased away by the smaller, more agressive birds.](http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/White-tailed-Hawk_Larry-Ditto_70K4264-199x300.jpg)
I cloned away the chunk of beef kidney tied to this limb under the hawk’s talons.
![Crested Caracara_Larry Ditto_MG_3135 Crested Caracara at sunset on the Santa Clara Ranch.](http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Crested-Caracara_Larry-Ditto_MG_3135-300x199.jpg)
As the sun was setting yesterday, this crested caracara came to the hawk perch on Santa Clara Ranch. The caracaras waited at a distance until the Harris’s hawk and white-tailed hawk were gone for the day. Then, they moved in to clean up any remaining scraps of food.
![Sandhill Crane_Larry Ditto_MG_4627 Sandhill crane landing at the roost pond in front of mountain shadows at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico.](http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sandhill-Crane_Larry-Ditto_MG_46271-300x199.jpg)
![Snow Geese_Larry Ditto_MG_5716 Snow geese with landing gear down.](http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Snow-Geese_Larry-Ditto_MG_5716-300x199.jpg)
I like making images with two or more birds doing something together. Whether some critics might say, “Oh, those birds’ bodies are merged in this photo” means nothing to me. If I like it, I like it and I love this shot.
![Snow Goose_Larry Ditto_MG_3802 Snow goose landing with sandhill cranes in a Bosque cornfield.](http://www.larryditto.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Snow-Goose_Larry-Ditto_MG_3802-199x300.jpg)
There it is. I hope you enjoy some of these photos.