Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermilion Flycatcher

If you like color you’ll love the Vermilion Flycatcher, like this one I photographed at Boyce Thompson Arboretum on April 28, 2009. These small flycatchers have the most brilliant orange-red feathers I’ve ever seen on a wild bird in the U.S., and their “glow” can be seen for quit some distance when they sit out in the sunlight.

But that brilliant color makes them a difficult subject to expose properly: it is very easy to overexpose the red channel and get blown put plumage.

I was lucky in two ways with this bird earlier in the week. First, it wasn’t particularly bothered by my presence along one of the trails at BTA. I saw it as a distance and started a careful approach, expecting it would be as uncooperative as others have been for me at many other locations in AZ. But this bird kept returning to a couple of favorite perches even after I got within close camera range.

I was lucky with the light, as well. This is an open stand of very large trees, with a high leaf canopy. So, I didn’t have a bird in bright direct sunlight to deal with: softer lower contrast light is ideal for tricky exposure subjects. I varied my exposure, trying a few frames with -1/3rd ev compensation, but even shots at zero bias were fine and were essentially straight conversions from raw in Adobe Camera Raw.

Nikon D200, 300/2.8 AF-S lens with TC20E 2x converter, ISO 400, 1/125th second at f/8. Natural light, no flash fill. 81% of full frame. No cloning, no noise reduction, no background blurring, “no foolin’ around” in post processing.

Sign Language

Lately I’ve found myself taking photos of signs. I don’t know why; it just seems that I’m noticing more signs that I want to “collect.” Maybe its the combination of being curious, paying attention to what’s around, and trying to have a general purpose lens handy when I’m driving about and when I’m walking with my bird gear. Or, maybe I’m just a bit weird.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum Whiteboard

All visitors to Boyce Thompson Arboretum walk past this large whiteboard as they leave the visitor center and head to the trails. It is used to advertise guided walks, plant sales, and other events coming up at the Arboretum. Usually there’s also a list of interesting recent sightings: birds, butterflies, lizards, blooms, whatever. I take a quick glance each time to see what’s new and then get on about my business.

But on my most recent visit I had to get a shot of the board. Somebody put a lot of effort into this display and came up with a very eye-catching layout.

Gilbert Water Ranch Birds Sign

There are a few interpretive signs located along some of the paths at the Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ, including this one listing some of the passerine birds that can be sen there at various times of the year. But its too bad there are three obvious errors on this, and I wonder just who had final review duties before this sign was produced. The errors:

• the “ed” is missing from Red-wingED Blackbird
• Abert’s Towhee has been mis-spelled (not ALbert’s Towhee)
• the image ilustrating the White-crowned Sparrow is actually of a White-throated Sparrow

Tribal lands sign board

Sometimes I just drive around with no particular destination in mind, mostly just to see what might be there. I came upon this community bulletin board right along a main road on the nearby tribal lands. It was a big surprise that people would put paper signs up on a board along the road like this, but when I thought about it I realized I was thinking like someone from another part of the country where there’s rain or snow to worry about – not a problem here in the dry desert most of the time.

Thrasher Variations

Curve-billed Thrasher on Saguaro

For various reasons both good and bad I do most of my bird photography at the Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ, where these two photos of Curve-billed Thrasher were made. Making repeat visits to a familiar location has both good and bad aspects. I’ve written about some of the good things here before, like learning the preferences of the resident birds, when and where the light works in your favor for photography, and the seasonal movements of migrants.

Curve-billed Thrasher on Saguaro

On the negative side of working the same place and the same birds a lot is avoiding having all your images start to look alike. It can be hard to ignore the Curve-billed Thrashers at the Water Ranch as there are always a couple around the stand of large Saguaro cacti directly off the main parking lot. So, I look for these thrashers doing different things, and in different light. And I also vary the composition whenever possible, including the amount of the frame devoted to the thrasher.

In the top image I’ve caught a thrasher in very early light, and on a cactus short enough that I’m not looking up at too strong of an angle. I’ve captured the beak open as the bird sings. The view shows the back and tail; the framing is “landscape.”

In the second image I’m caught a thrasher stretching its wings, or doing some sort of wing fluff. The light is not as pleasing as in the top image, but still soft by desert standards. My view is bit more upward, so I’ve made the composition in “portrait” format and shown more of the cactus to help account for the upward angle.

I like both images, and the differences between them mean that they could serve different purposes, which is always nice to have in a portfolio.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Broad-billed Hummingbird on nest

When we first came to Phoenix in 1994 we spent a lot of time chasing after birds around Arizona to add to our life lists and to build a respectable state list. At that time the closest reliable place to see Broad-billed Hummingbird was at Madera Canyon off I-19 south of Tucson. The range maps in field guides from the 80’s and 90’s show broad-billed limited to the extreme southeastern part of AZ.

Things have changed since 1994. About 5-6 yeas ago I started seeing occasional broad-bills at Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, AZ; quite a distance north of Madera Canyon. Then we found a nest. And now this is an expected species year round at Boyce, and the Arboretum now essentially marks the northern edge of their range.

I was alerted to this nest along the main trail by a staff member who provided precise directions on finding and seeing it with the hope I could get some photos. Although there was a fairly clear sight line to the nest, as I feared the lighting conditions was miserable for photography. This nest is buried in the shrubbery, with light coming from behind as viewed from the only place it can be seen from the trail.

After carefully positioning the tripod and camera I switched to manual focus as there was just too many twigs and branches and leaves to rely on auto focus. I tried a few shots using just the natural light, but the shutter speed was very low, the light was splotchy, and the overall color had a strong yellow cast from the leaves.

That left flash as my only solution. I detest flash: both for the unnatural look it often creates, and for the mechanics of using it in the field with a big lens. Since the camera was locked down on the tripod and the hummingbird was snug on the nest I was able to get the flash a few feet away from the camera with a remote cord and hold it above and to the left to try for less unnatural shadows.

I’m not completely happy with these results, but its the best I could do on this particular nest location. I don’t care at all for the way the flash has “flattened” the hummingbird. Perhaps next year I’ll be able to work with a broad-bill in a more photo friendly location.

Least Bittern

Least Bittern

There are probably more Least Bitterns around Arizona (and other places) than people realize. They are the smallest of our heron family and they lead a mostly secret life among the dense vegetation at the edges of ponds where few people get to poke around.

This was a special bird for me and many others at the Gilbert Water Ranch back in January of 2006 when it could often be seen early in the morning near one part of a large pond, and I got to see it on many visits that winter. Taking photos of it was another matter, however. I usually got to see it from a long way away, or when the light was very low.

But on this one morning I found the bittern out on the open, and it even stayed put as I very carefully pushed through some shrubs to get into camera position. At the time I had only the Nikon D70, and with thee 300/2.8 mounted with the TC20E 2x converter I needed ISO 800 to get an exposure of 1/15th second at f/8, with -2/3rd ev compensation dialed in to the exposure. These are pretty marginal settings to be using (ISO 800 brings out noise in the image; 1/15th second is way too slow for 600mm optics and a wild bird), so I wasn’t expecting a lot from this. I did what I could to improve my odds: I was using a very capable Gitzo carbon fiber tripod; I locked down all the movements; I used my hands to help dampen any vibration from the shutter; I took multiple shots.

I’m very happy with these results, but I did need to use NoiseWare with Photoshop to tame the noise in the background of the image.

I know there are people who would prefer a much tighter composition: more bittern and less habitat. But for me a lot of the pleasure in this image comes from the setting as it helps tell the story of these secretive birds’ lives. I like the  interplay of the dark greens and golds in the reflections, and I like the colors and textures of the bent and broken reeds.