Daily Archives: August 25, 2011

New changes to my blog

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I have been tweaking my blog again.  Someday, I will have it right.

First, the name.  I have always felt that some people may have thought my “Texas Tweeties”  site had some connotations to TWITTER.  I do not Twitter, nor do I Facebook or use any other social networks.  My blog is mainly about birding and photography.  I am not sure if I like this new name yet, so if any of you would like to make suggestions, please make comment.

Secondly, I have fine-tuned access to my photo collections.  You can click on my Galleries page for links to my various portfolios.  You can also click on the Flickr logo to the right of this post.

New Action at K-mart Creek

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Last year, as many of you know, I wrote some posts about this drainage ditch in front of an empty K-mart Building near here.  There was usually then a constant flow down the arroyo so there was many water birds that frequented there.  Herons, Sandpipers, Egrets, etc.  But for the last year or so, since this drought got a huge foothold over west Texas, it has been dry as a bone.

Not so, right now.  Since we got about three inches in the area about a week ago there is a little water back in there.  So it was a pleasant surprise when we drove by there, on our way home from picking up breakfast from the Golden Arches, that we spotted a Yellow-crowned Night Heron.  He was back-lit from the morning sun and the light wasn’t perfect, but with a little post-processing I came up with these usable images.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

  • Canon EOS 7D
  • Canon 100-400mm zoom lens
  • 1/125 sec. @ f6.3 – minus 1/3 EV adjustment
  • ISO 400
  • Lens focal distance 400mm
  • Metering – spot
  • Aperture priority

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

  • Canon EOS 7D
  • Canon 100-400mm zoom lens
  • 1/200 sec. @ f6.3 – minus 1/3 EV adjustment
  • ISO 400
  • Lens focal distance 400mm
  • Metering – spot
  • Aperture priority

One thing that I have gotten used to, it to adjust my EV to minus 1/3.  I like to use that as my default, or starting point, rather than no adjustment.  I like the way my tonal qualities are just a tad under exposed, I guess.  I am not saying I am right, but it’s something I prefer to do.  I didn’t used to do that, and I am not really sure when I started doing it.

By the way, the heron was gone later in the afternoon when I drove by there again.   I’ll keep my eyes on it.  Click on either image to see an enlargement.