{"id":1332,"date":"2011-05-29T19:33:15","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T00:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2011-05-29T21:21:18","modified_gmt":"2011-05-30T02:21:18","slug":"waiting-at-the-waterhole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/29\/waiting-at-the-waterhole\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting at the Waterhole"},"content":{"rendered":"

When\u00a0you live in south Texas, you get used to hot, dry weather.\u00a0 Well, you don’t get used to it, but you learn to live with it.\u00a0 This spring has been as hot, dry and windy as most of us can remember…the brush has dropped its leaves to conserve moisture and the animals have all gathered at the waterholes.\u00a0 So, I wait at the\u00a0ponds to get in on the action.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago\u00a0at Steve Bentsen’s “Dos Venadas Ranch”, I had a splendid afternoon of\u00a0shooting from one of\u00a0photo blinds.\u00a0 I totally missed an opportunity to photograph an armadillo bathing (rolling onto his back like a puppy)… I had forgotten to turn on my backup camera with the smaller lens.\u00a0 By the time I got ready,\u00a0the ‘dillo\u00a0was out of the pond and headed for cover.\u00a0\u00a0I did get my act together by the time the birds began arriving.<\/p>\n

Last week, I was at Beto Gutierrez’s “Santa Clara Ranch”\u00a0\u00a0with two clients for three days of shooting.\u00a0 A bit of good luck came our way in the form of a stray\u00a0thunder shower that\u00a0deposited about .1″ of rain\u00a0in that part of the brush country.\u00a0 It was enough to make the cenizo brush explode into purple blooms.\u00a0\u00a0All I needed to do was place a few blooming branches around\u00a0the pond\u00a0for color.<\/p>\n

Don’t forget to click on the upper right\u00a0or\u00a0left portion of the photos\u00a0to enlarge them for a sharper, brighter view.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Even<\/a>
Even rabbits stop to smell the roses...cenizo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I always try to have a second camera with my 100-400 mm lens attached and ready while I’m sitting in a photography blind.\u00a0 I am usually photographing birds with the big lens, but when a mammal drops by, the zoom lens is the right choice.<\/div>\n
\n
\"Cottontail<\/a>
Cottontail Rabbit surrounded by a hint of purple cenizo blooms blurred in the foreground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Cenizo is a common brush species in south Texas.\u00a0 It has gray, ash-colored leaves and purple flowers.\u00a0 Hence, it is called “cenizo”, Spanish for ash-colored.<\/div>\n
\n
\"Black-crested<\/a>
Black-crested Titmouse looking for sunflower seeds placed just below the cenizo blooms.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Hen<\/a>
Hen Northern Bobwhite scratching for seeds below the cenizo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/a>
A few purple blooms add more color to the scene where a male Painted Bunting comes to drink.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Western<\/a>
Western Coachwhip snake at a Santa Clara Ranch water hole.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
In my book, snakes are always difficult to photograph, so a sprinkle of purple cenizo blooms around the pond\u00a0was a big help as this small western coachwhip came to drink.<\/div>\n
\n
\"A<\/a>
A Groove-billed Ani in front of the cenizo for a drink.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"A<\/a>
A young Mourning Dove perched on a fallen tree at Dorothy's Pond on the Santa Clara Ranch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Painted<\/a>
Painted Bunting male in the shady woods at Dorothy's Pond.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"A<\/a>
A young Bullock's Oriole male exploding from a pond at the Dos Venadas Ranch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Northern<\/a>
Northern Cardinal exploding into flight from a Dos Venadas Ranch pond.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
One of the greatest thrills I get from photographing birds is seeing the flight photos that can be obtained by working close to an active waterhole on a hot day.\u00a0\u00a0I watch the direction most birds are going when they finish drinking and set up the next shot to anticipate the bird heading in that direction.\u00a0\u00a0Then, I just\u00a0pull back on the telephoto power, read the bird’s body language to anticipate take-off, and\u00a0try to commence\u00a0shooting a burst of high-speed shots as the bird leaves the pond.\u00a0 It certainly worked on the photos you are seeing here.\u00a0 Several scissor-tailed flycatchers came in to drink on this afternoon.\u00a0 The strong spring winds made it a little easier than normal to capture the birds on take-off.<\/div>\n
\n
\"A<\/a>
A scissor-tailed flycatcher on the wing reveals much more color than is visible when the wings are folded.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
I hope to capture painted buntings coming and going over the next few days.\u00a0 Wish me luck.<\/div>\n
Larry<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When\u00a0you live in south Texas, you get used to hot, dry weather.\u00a0 Well, you don’t get used to it, but you learn to live with it.\u00a0 This spring has been as hot, dry and windy as most of us can remember…the brush has dropped its leaves to conserve moisture and the animals have all gathered … Continue reading Waiting at the Waterhole<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1332"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1358,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions\/1358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}