{"id":3845,"date":"2016-08-26T14:55:30","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T19:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/?p=3845"},"modified":"2016-08-26T14:55:30","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T19:55:30","slug":"davis-mountains-hummingbird-festival-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/2016\/08\/26\/davis-mountains-hummingbird-festival-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Davis Mountains Hummingbird Festival and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 17-18, I guided a group of photographers into a remote part of west Texas known as the Christmas Mountains.\u00a0 The trip was a pre-festival event for the Davis Mountains Hummingbird Festival and we were after Lucifer Hummingbirds.\u00a0 I hope\u00a0 to \u00a0lead more trips in the coming year in May and August.\u00a0 This one filled up the first day it was advertised, so let me know early if you are interested.<\/p>\n

August is also the west Texas monsoon season and\u00a0many species of hummingbirds begin heading south into Texas from the Rockies further north.\u00a0 So, the festival is scheduled to take advantage of the many hummers moving into the Fort Davis area.\u00a0 After my workshop, I stayed around to check out some of the festival events\u00a0 and presented the keynote talk on the closing evening of the festival.<\/p>\n

*** Important news\u00a0on used cameras.\u00a0 McAllen, Texas photographer Paul Denman (pmdenman@att.net) would like to make you\u00a0 a great deal on his Canon 5D Mark III camera with grip and extra batteries as well as a Canon 1D Mark IV with extra batteries.\u00a0 Go ahead and contact him directly to get more information and discuss prices.<\/p>\n

Here are a few images from the west Texas trip:<\/p>\n

Don’t forget to click on an image to make it larger and sharper for viewing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0At the base of this butte in the Christmas Mountains west of Big Bend National Park,\u00a0Lucifer Hummingbirds nest in cholla cactus each spring and summer.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0doesn’t look like hummingbird nesting habit, but there they are.\u00a0 We photographed them at feeders\u00a0within a quarter mile of this mountain.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>
Christmas Mountains, west Texas at sunset.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sunset light\u00a0on the Christmas Mountains can produce some excellent scenic views.<\/p>\n

\"Male<\/a>
Male Lucifer perched in black brush, Christmas Mountains, May.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lucifer<\/a>
Lucifer Hummingbird in breeding plumage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both of the above Lucifer shots were with Canon 7D Mark II and Canon 500 mm lens mounted on Wimberley head and Gitzo 1348 tripod.<\/p>\n

\"Lucifer<\/a>
Lucifer Hummingbird male at feeder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lucifer males have\u00a0elongated, wrap-around\u00a0gorgets that\u00a0glow an iridescent purple\u00a0from almost any angle.\u00a0 Also, note the characteristic curved beak.<\/p>\n

\"Lucifer<\/a>
Lucifer Hummingbird male in flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This male is moulting but still sports a striking plumage.\u00a0 Four flashes were used for this photo to light the bird and background.<\/p>\n

\"Lucifer<\/a>
Lucifer Hummingbird male banking in flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Keep watching for a few more images from the Davis Mountains.<\/p>\n

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

On August 17-18, I guided a group of photographers into a remote part of west Texas known as the Christmas Mountains.\u00a0 The trip was a pre-festival event for the Davis Mountains Hummingbird Festival and we were after Lucifer Hummingbirds.\u00a0 I hope\u00a0 to \u00a0lead more trips in the coming year in May and August.\u00a0 This one … Continue reading Davis Mountains Hummingbird Festival and More<\/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-3845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3845","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=3845"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3857,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3845\/revisions\/3857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}