{"id":3559,"date":"2016-02-03T19:21:46","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T01:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/?p=3559"},"modified":"2016-02-03T19:21:46","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T01:21:46","slug":"santa-clara-dream-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/03\/santa-clara-dream-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Clara Dream Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday morning\u00a0was a dream\u00a0photo shoot\u00a0for me at Santa Clara Photo Ranch west of Edinburg.\u00a0 It was one of the few times I’ve photographed alone this year and\u00a0the absence of human sounds was deafening.\u00a0 It was obvious the critters\u00a0appreciated the quiet time;\u00a0 birds were everywhere.<\/p>\n

The big\u00a0EVENT of the morning began with a scream, then\u00a0screams and more screams…the kind\u00a0cats make when\u00a0mating.\u00a0 Around 8:00 AM, the chilling vocalizations\u00a0started\u00a0just 20 yards from\u00a0my blind.\u00a0\u00a0Knowing what it was, I quickly prepared\u00a0the Canon 7d II and NEW 100-400 mm lens for\u00a0action.\u00a0 The first cat to appear was a\u00a0large\u00a0female that came within 20 feet\u00a0of the blind before crouching\u00a0for a long drink.<\/p>\n

The cat was great; the new lens was great; the light overcast sky was great!\u00a0 She paid no attention to the zip, zip, zip of the camera.\u00a0\u00a0When she finally\u00a0strolled away, a second kitty\u00a0came in.\u00a0\u00a0It was one of the prettiest bobcats I’ve even seen.\u00a0 In the space of 5 minutes, both cats came and went.\u00a0 It was a “hum-drum” morning after that.\u00a0 Yep,\u00a0there wasn’t much to do but photograph\u00a0birds, green birds, red birds, orange birds, yellow birds, etc.\u00a0, but somehow I muddled through.<\/p>\n

Here are a few images from\u00a0my big day at Santa Clara Photo Ranch:\u00a0 Remember to click on an image to enlarge and sharpen it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"bobcat<\/a>
bobcat drinking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Bobcat,<\/a>
Bobcat, female with “ocelot” markings on the side. Experts say one cat in twelve, on average, will have these reticulate patterns\u00a0in their fur.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Bobcat<\/a>
Bobcat # 2 at photo blind pond.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Bobcat<\/a>
Bobcat pausing in front of photography blind.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Audubon's<\/a>
Audubon’s Oriole landing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This oriole was missing a toe on its right foot.<\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>
Northern Cardinal and Pyrrhuloxia sharing a perch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is “the year of the northern cardinal in south Texas”.\u00a0 Significant numbers have moved into McAllen for the winter and that’s a rarity.<\/p>\n

\"It<\/a>
It has taken me years to get sharp flight shots of a golden-fronted woodpecker.\u00a0 I got several this day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo demonstrating who rules the feeding post.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Male<\/a>
Male golden-fronted woodpecker posing in mid-air.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Green<\/a>
Green jays can’t decide who eats first.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Pre-focusing<\/a>
Pre-focusing just behind the perch can insure a sharp image\u00a0provided the shutter speed is high enough to stop those fantastic yellow wings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"House<\/a>
Nobody told this house sparrow she\u00a0has lowest rank at the feeding post.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Eight<\/a>
Eight northern bobwhites lined up for their first drink of the day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The nature photography life is a sweet one on days like this.<\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday morning\u00a0was a dream\u00a0photo shoot\u00a0for me at Santa Clara Photo Ranch west of Edinburg.\u00a0 It was one of the few times I’ve photographed alone this year and\u00a0the absence of human sounds was deafening.\u00a0 It was obvious the critters\u00a0appreciated the quiet time;\u00a0 birds were everywhere. The big\u00a0EVENT of the morning began with a scream, then\u00a0screams and … Continue reading Santa Clara Dream Morning<\/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-3559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3559","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=3559"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3575,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3559\/revisions\/3575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}