First, before I get into the subject of this post, I’d like to mention that two of my favorite bloggers are down in south Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. One is David Skinner’s (blog) from Canada. He reports that during a three-hour hunt yesterday he and his group saw 57, yes, folks that is 57 species. He said that 11 of those were “lifers” for him.
If you remember, in an earlier post I had mentioned that Ann and I had seen 27 species on a recent outing. David’s total of 57 makes ours look like childs-play. I need to get to south Texas one of these days.
Another individual, Linda Rockwell of Photo Feathers (blog) is down there, but in a different tour group. Check out her photos of a couple of Crested Caracaras. She said that she will be reporting back later on her results.
Now, about the Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis). These photos were taken at two different times with different equipment.
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon Group)
This Oregon Junco was photographed at the Cedar GapFarm bird viewing center in February 2009. If you have never been there, click the above link to my post describing it. I was using my Canon EOS 40D at the time. I had my Canon 100-400 lens attached and hand-held it for this shot. 1/500 sec. @f5.6, ISO 400. Center-weighted metering at aperture priority.
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
The Slate-colored Junco was photographed at the X-Bar Ranch in November of 2010. Another great place to bird. They have a little patio area next to a copse of trees with a little bubbling fountain. Many species of birds, and all you have to do is sit back in one of the chairs, sip a refreshment of your choice, and enjoy the different species. Of course, I passed on the refreshment as I was quite busy taking photographs.
It was getting quite dark when I took this particular photo, as you can see by the ISO of 3200. I had my Canon 7D on a tripod with my Canon 500mm lens. Other exposure info: 1/400 sec @ f4, partial metering at shutter priority.
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 