Early Morning Blast-off of Snow Geese at Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico

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I am putting together a collections of photos that could be called Dave’s Best of Bosque. These are candidates for inclusion. They represent the large gatherings of Snow Geese that can be seen there, and are examples of the view during the early morning blast-offs.

Images were taken with a Nikon D500 and 50mm f/1.8 lens. Except for #2 (a composite of several frames), shutter speed was 1/2500 sec and ISO ranged from 100 (#1 and #8) to 2200 (#3 and #4).

Click on any image in the gallery to see a larger version or click on the first image and use the right arrow to view larger versions of each image in the sequence in order. Hover over the image to see more details about the shot.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Sandhill Crane Takeoff Sequence - Bosque del Apache NWR

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While culling the photos I added to my Lightroom catalog after an outing to the Bosque del Apache NWR in December 2021, I found many unprocessed photos taken at Bosque in January 2018. I think they were ignored and forgotten because of the chaos associated with becoming full time residents of Colorado in December 2017 after selling our house in Florida.

Sandhill Crane - Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico - January 12, 2018

The 12 shots in the gallery shown below are part of one takeoff sequence. The interval between the first and last shot was 7 seconds.

Nikon D500, 300mm f//4 + 1.4x teleconverter
1/3200 sec at f/7.1, ISO 360-500

Click on any image in the gallery to see a larger version or click on the first image and use the right arrow to view larger versions of each image in the sequence in order.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Texas Sunrise - October 31, 2021

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Sandhill Silhouettes Some Shall Savor

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Nineteen images of sandhill cranes coming in after sunset to land in an overnight crane pool at the Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico on the evenings of December 9 and 10 2021.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

American Kestrel - Bosque del Apache NWR - 12/11/2021

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As I drove the north and south loop roads at Bosque last week, I was remembering the locations where I had taken some of my favorite shots on previous trips to the refuge. At one point I remember that I had obtained a few close-up shots of an American Kestrel on a post around the next turn. As I made the turn, I saw a kestrel on the same post. I stopped my car in a location with a good light angle and was able to get the images shown below. Click on each image to see a slightly larger version.

American Kestrel - Bosque del Apache NWR - December 11, 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera, 150-400mm f/4.5 TC lens
Settings: 395mm focal length, 1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 320

American Kestrel - Bosque del Apache NWR - December 11, 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera, 150-400mm f/4.5 TC lens
Settings: 395mm, 1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 320

American Kestrel - Bosque del Apache NWR - December 11, 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera, 150-400mm f/4.5 TC lens
Settings: 395mm, 1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

American Kestrel with catch - Bosque del Apache NWR - December 11, 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera, 150-400mm f/4.5 TC lens
Settings: 395mm, 1/2000 at f/5.6, ISO 250

American Kestrel with catch - Bosque del Apache NWR - December 11, 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera, 150-400mm f/4.5 TC lens
Settings: 395mm, 1/2000 at f/5.6, ISO 320

American Kestrel with catch - Bosque del Apache NWR - December 11, 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera, 150-400mm f/4.5 TC lens
Settings: 395mm, 1/2000 at f/5.6, ISO 320

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Northern Pintail Ducks in Flight

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The photos were taken at the Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico on December 9, 2021. Compared to several previous years when I visited Bosque, drought conditions had dramatically changed the locations where photographers grouped to capture the early morning departure of the Sandhill Cranes from their roosting areas and the late afternoon arrival at those locations. Click on the image to see a slightly larger version.

Northern Pintails - Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico - December 9, 2021
All photos were taken handheld with an Olympus E-M1X camera and a 150-400mm f/4.5 TC lens. Settings for the first three images were 500mm focal length, 1/3200 sec at f/5.6 and ISO 500.

The pintails were feeding in the short grassy areas at the edge of the pool of water the sandhilll cranes were using as a roosting area.

Ample opportunity to try to capture images of the birds in flight existed because small numbers of the pintails were frequently entering or exiting this part of the refuge and/or changing locations within the area.

Settings for this image were 445mm focal length, 1/3200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 500.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

White Morph Reddish Egret Catching, but not releasing

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Late in the afternoon on November 10 2021 at the beach on Bolivar Flats in Texas, the combination of the rising tide and the configuration of the underlying sand created a temporary pool of water that was being actively fished by a single White Morph Reddish Egret, a Black-bellied Plover, and a couple of Willets. Later, two Marbled Godwits joined the crowd. I was able to get to the west of the pool without disturbing the birds and acquire many images of the ongoing activity.

White Morph Reddish Egret - Bolivar Flats, TX - November 10 2021
Photos were taken with an Olympus E-M1X camera and a 150-400mm f4.5 TC lens. Shots were taken handheld @ 400 or 500mm, 1/3200 sec, f/4.5 or 5.6 , and ISOs between 320 and 800. I was surprised by the number of shots in which the fish being chased was out of the water and in the frame. Both the bird and the fish are out of the water in several of the shots.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Belted Kingfisher diving

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During a recent photo outing to Texas and Louisiana, I saw a lot of Kingfishers and Northern Harriers but had obtained no decent photos of either. On November 13 at the Lacassine NWR in Louisiana, I saw this Belted Kingfisher hovering over the water at a distance and was able to focus on the bird and track it to the water.

Belted Kingfisher - November 13 2021 - Lacassine NWR (LA)

The three photos were taken with an Olympus E-M1X camera and a 150-400mm f4.5 TC lens. Shots were taken handheld @ 500mm, 1/4000 sec, f/8, ISO 800 or 1000.

These images were small in the frame. I used the Enhance feature in Lightroom to create enlarged versions.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Photos showing sandpipers in flight as well as the reflections of the birds.

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Photos taken from the North Jetty of the Galveston ship channel November 14, 2021. The larger birds are Dunlins and the smaller one Western Sandpipers.

Note the collision of the reflections of the two birds on the left.

Both photos were taken with an Olympus E-M1X camera and a 150-400mm f4.5 TC lens. Shots were taken handheld @ 419mm, 1/5000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000. Click on the image to see a slightly larger view.

Especially in the early days of my bird photography adventures, the monthly programs of the Francis M. Weston Audubon Society in Pensacola FL, their monthly publication (Skimmer), and the information on their web pages greatly facilitated my ability to locate and identify the birds I photographed. The barcharts in Bob and Lucy Duncan’s “The Birds of Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Counties, Florida” explained why the birds were not where I expected them to be and when they were likely to return. I am especially grateful to Lucy and Bob for their help over the years with difficult (for me) identifications.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks landing sequence

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Photos taken November 12 2021 at the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. The refuge is part of a complex created to support, protect, and provide winter habitat for migratory waterfowl. It seemed to have received little damage from the series of hurricanes that made landfall in LA during the last hurricane season. As the name implies, the birds generate a clear whistling call.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks - Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge (LA) - November 12 2021

The 4 photos were taken with an Olympus E-M1X camera and a 150-400mm f4.5 TC lens The built-in 1.4x tc was activated and shots were taken handheld @ 500mm, 1/3200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. Click on the image to see a slightly larger view.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks - Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge (LA) - November 12 2021

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks - Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge (LA) - November 12 2021

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks - Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge (LA) - November 12 2021

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Pictorial Definition — Coming up empty

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Foster’s Tern Diving Sequence - November 12, 2019 - Bolivar Peninsula, Texas

Olympus E-M1X camera with 300mm f/4 lens and 1.4x teleconverter.
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800 or 1000
(Slightly larger versions of the images can be viewed by clicking on the image.)


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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Sailing from Anacortes WA to San Francisco CA in 2006

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In 2006 I helped my friends Ken Britten and Sandra Aamodt sail their new (for them) ketch, Aquila, from Anacortes WA to San Francisco CA. The web page I made in 2006 describing highlights of the trip has been converted into this blog entry. A photo of Aquila is shown below.

Details of the vessel can be viewed here.

OverviewModified copy.jpg

Ruminations about how to employ Minard’s innovative use of spatial information in developing a graphical description of our voyage eventually led to the figure shown below,

NeahToSF copy.jpg

Ken and Sanra sailed Aquila to New Zealand and back. I was looking forward to joining them on part of their voyage, but circumstances did not allow me to do so.

The original, more complete, description of the Anacortes to San Francisco trip is still on the web. Link.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Objects obscuring bird photos

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Don’t you hate it when lighthouses and vegetation obscure your bird shots?

Blue Angels - Pensacola, FL - July 2010
Nikon D300, 500mm f/4 lens
1/800 sec at f/8, ISO 250

Fort Pickens, located on Pensacola Beach on the Gulf Islands National Seashore, was one of my favorite birding spots when I lived in Pensacola. The Naval Air Station that is the home base of the Blue Angels is only a couple of miles from the fort. The segment of Pensacola Bay closest to the pass into the Gulf of Mexico separates the Fort and the Naval Air Station. I had many opportunities to photograph the Blue Angels during their practice sessions when I was birding at Fort Pickens.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Experimenting with a different way of displaying images on this blog site

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Greater Sage-Grouse photos

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While cleaning out folders in my bloated Lightroom catalog, I found a lot of unprocessed raw files of photos taken on a photo tour led by Greg Lavaty in 2014. He called it a chicken run. The goal was to get photos of White-tailed Ptarmigan, Greater Sage Grouse, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chicken and the complex breeding rituals of the Grouse and Prairie-Chickens.

All of the photos shown are of Greater Sage-Grouse seen at a lek near Walton, CO on April 2, 2014.

All shots were taken with a Nikon D7100 camera and a 500mm f/4 lens shot at f/5.6. Shutter speeds varied from 1/1000 sec to 1/2500 sec and ISO from 1000 to 1250..

Pointed tail. Legs with feathers. Yellow patch over the eye. White breast. Dark brown throat, Black Belly. Two yellow sacs on the neck.

Females, want to see how fit I am? Look at my spiky tail feathers and the size of my puffed-up chest.

And …. I earned this valuable territory in the middle of the lek by chasing off many less-fit males not worthy of your attention.

In a lek, males compete with each other through a series of spectacular displays, calls, and sparring for the coveted innermost territories on the lek. The one or two males most successful in attaining and defending these small territories typically perform about 90% of the matings that occur on the lek.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Great Blue Heron and Reflection

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I found this photo of a Great Blue Heron while cullng images in my Lightroom Catalog.

Click on the image to make the bird a tiny bit larger.

Great Blue Heron - Laguna Atascosa NWR, TX - November 2010
Nikon D700, 24-70mm f/2.8 lens at 60mm
1/320 sec at f/13, ISO 200

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Secretive Marsh Birds - Sora

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I am in the process of constructing a collection of images that will be labelled SECRETIVE MARSH BIRDS. Ironically, all parts of the body except those that are submerged are exposed in my favorite shots of the very secretive Sora (Porzana carolina).

Click on each image to see a slightly larger version.

Sora - Fort Pickens Gulf Islands National Seashore (FL) - October 2010
Nikon D300s, 500mm f/4 lens
1/640 sec at f/4, ISO 800

The Sora is a member of the Family Rallidae which also includes other rails, Gallinules and Coots. Sora primarily eat seeds for which their short, stubby yellow bill is well suited.

Sora - Fort Pickens Gulf Islands National Seashore (FL) - October 2010
Nikon D300s, 500mm f/4 lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/640 sec at f/8, ISO 400

I have learned some interesting things while reading about the rails and bitterns. For survey and conservation purposes rails and bitterns are among those listed as secretive marsh birds. In general, estimates of the numbers of marsh birds have been and continue to be declining. It is not surprising that the populations of many marsh birds have declined in North America. About half of the wetlands in the U.S. have been lost over the past 200 years. In Louisiana, about one-quarter of the state’s wetlands – an area the size of Delaware – have been lost since the 1930s.

Sora - Anahuac NWR (TX) - May 2011
Nikon D300, 500mm f/4 lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/640 sec at f/4.5, ISO 250

Several descriptions of the plumage and behavior of Sora that I read described their habitat as emergent wetlands. “Emergent wetland means a wetland with at least thirty (30) percent of the surface area covered by erect, rooted, herbaceous vegetation extending above the water surface as the uppermost vegetative strata.” The herbaceous plants are hydrophytic or water-adapted. The vegetation is rooted below the water’s surface and either stands erect above the water (e.g., cattails) or grows at the surface (e.g., lily pads). Link

Sora - St. Marks NWR (FL) - November 2012
Nikon D300s, 300mm f/2.8 lens + 1.7x teleconverter
1/320 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1250

Virginia Rails, Soras, and King Rails are game species in many states. The following description of soras is one I found in a hunting magazine. “Soras are shy little birds. They are small, about the size of an English sparrow and sport a slate-gray chest and belly, brown-white-black speckled wings and back. Mother Nature outfitted soras with a black bib and face mask accentuated by a bright yellow bill. Their long legs are greenish gray and dangle awkwardly when rails flush and take wing. Once in the air, soras are not strong flyers, nor do they fly very far before settling back down. Their flight appears almost labored. Preferred sora habitat includes cattail marshes and moist soil environments where they can feast on seeds, rice, insects and aquatic invertebrates.” Link

Sora preening - Wakodahatchee Wetlands (FL) - January 2014
Nikon D7100, 500mm f/4 lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/1250 sec at f/8, ISO 640

More about secretive marsh birds and their habitat in the next post.

Sora preening - Wakodahatchee Wetlands (FL) - January 2014
Nikon D7100, 500mm f/4 lens + 1.4x teleconverter
1/1000 sec at f/8, ISO 640

Sora - Fort Pickens Gulf Islands National Seashore (FL) - April 2013
Nikon D7100, 300mm f/4 lens + 1.7x teleconverter
1/2500 sec at f/8, ISO 1600

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

American Avocet Takeoff Sequence

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I am still culling images I obtained on my birding trip to the Bolivar Peninsula (TX) in April. This is one of my favorite birding locations, but on most days during my visit, the wind, tide, and cloud conditions were not favorable for finding and photographing shorebirds. This lowered my expectations of finding many “keepers” in the files from that trip and my enthusiasm for spending a lot of time sorting the photos. But, I am finding a few pleasant surprises. .

American Avocet taking off sequence. Bolivar Peninsula (TX). April 2021
Olympus E-M1X camera with 150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @ 500mm.
Settings were the same for the three photos: 1/1600 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200

Click on the image for a slightly larger view.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit. 

Red-winged Blackbird — Takeoff and in Flight

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I spent two and one-half days exploring the Cheyenne Bottoms WA and Quivira NWR-Big Salt Marsh in Kansas last week. These wetlands are premier sites for viewing shorebirds in the interior United States, especially in the spring. I expected to spend most of my time there photographing shorebirds, as I has done on a visit a couple of years ago. The shorebirds were there, as recent E-bird reports indicated. But the water levels were low and most of the shorebirds, visible using spotting scopes, were a long distance from the dikes and roads accessible to viewers.

Red-winged Blackbird - Cheyenne Bottoms WA - May 2021

The 5 images in this post were obtained using the Olympus E-M1X camera
with 150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @ 250mm.
Settings were the same: 1/2000 sec at f/6.3, ISO 800

The edges of the dikes and roads were not devoid of birds. Swallows, Blackbirds, Dickcissels, Kingbirds, Meadowlarks, and Grackles were active, but skitish because of the low traffic density in these wetlands. I decided to devote my effort to trying to capture takeoff and flight images of the birds active on the edges of the areas accessible to visitors instead of the distant shorebirds.

One reason for this decision (in addition to the photographic inaccessibility of the shorebirds) was to gain experience with the Pro Capture mode available on some Olympus cameras. Pro Capture works by continuously taking images and saving them in temporary memory when the shutter is “half pressed.” The images in the buffer are deleted if the shutter is released before being fully activated. When the shutter button is fully activated, images in the buffer plus addition images collected while the shutter remains depressed are saved. While this mode captures events usually lost during the reaction time of the photographer, the photographer makes a number of decisions about camera settings that affect the outcome. Among these are choice of the field of view (how much space around the bird is included in the frame), shutter speed, number and location of the active focus points, and the aperture setting which affects the depth of field. I found myself in a situation that provided an excellent opportunity to practice using the Pro Capture mode. Doing so had been on my (should be laminated) photographic ToDo list for quite some time. Some of the results obtained are show below. More will be illustrated in follow-up blog posts.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.