Sunday, July 27, 2008

July 27th Report - San Angelo S.P.

Quiet morning in the blind. Most of the usual suspects but a couple of extras...


Species List
Black-chinned Hummingbird (Female)
Black crested Titmouse (Adults & Juveniles)
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (Juvenile)
Curve-billed Thrasher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Juvenile Male)
House Finch
House Sparrow
Ladder-Backed Woodpecker (Male)
Mourning Dove
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Mating Pair)
Northern Cardinal (2 Mating Pairs and Juveniles)
Northern Mockingbird
Painted Bunting (Male)
Pyrrhuloxia (Male)
Red-Winged Blackbird
White-Winged Dove
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
Turkey Vulture (Overhead)

I was kicking myself this morning. The light yesterday was incredible but I had made a previous commitment to do something with Concho Valley Photography Club that, while was photographic, did not involve taking pictures. It was still a great morning and I very much enjoyed the company and the task that we were working, but the promise of nice soft morning light was awful tempting.

This morning was bright, sunny, and hot. The triad of what could be a miserable morning in the blind. After my initial bounce through I had approximately 1 out of 20 shots that I wanted to look at later. With yesterdays light my guess is the number would have been closer to 1 in 10. Life is what happens when you're making other plans.
  • Northern Cardinals were in full force this morning.
  • Hummingbird activity is dropping a little bit, but I had one female Black-chinned perch on "A" tree for about 5 minutes. Must of have been a busy morning for her
  • Brown-headed cowbird activity was down significantly
  • Good to see the Pyrhhuloxia in the blind this morning. Photographs definitely point towards a male, though it might be a juvenile
  • Painted bunting was awful nice to see. Standard behavior--went to the water, drank some, and then took off.
  • Bobwhite Quails didn't show up until I got ready to get up and leave. Really I had left but I remembered I had left a water bottle in the blind. As I walked back in I noticed that they had shown up. Very depressing, but given the light conditions and the time of day, it really didn't make that much difference.
All in all, it was still a good morning, but...

Image: Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Female), San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Initial Blind Report: Bird Blind at Fredericksburg Nature Center


I visited The Fredericksburg Nature Center on July 5th. I had read about the bird blind and went with high expectations. I left disappointed with the blind, but found many things in the Nature Center that were very positive and worthwhile of a visit. All who I encountered who were part of the Nature Center, to include a lengthy e-mail, were very positive and friendly.

Location: The Nature Center is located in Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park in the southern part of Fredericksburg, theoretically about a mile from the airport and the fairgrounds but really the end of the runway is not far from the visitor center.

Fee: There is no fee to go into the park nor is there one to visit the nature center.

Setup: The blind is set up in about a 3/8th's octagon. It is covered and there are openings at three different levels. These openings are big enough to get my 300mm lens w/77mm filter size through with no difficulties. However, directly outside of the blind there is a steep drop-off so most if not all of your shots will be on a weird focal plane. Trees surround the back sides of the blind and have a thick, light-robbing canopy.

Perches/Attractants: There are plenty of places for birds to find food of very many varieties. Water is available to the birds as well. Beyond the wires that hold up various food dispensers, there are no perches besides the trees inside the blind. There are few branches that are close to the feeders.

AM/PM: Based on an e-mail with the folks at the Nature Center, during the summer there really isn't a good time, morning or afternoon. The canopy of trees does not allow in photographically pleasing light. When winter comes and the leaves thin out, then morning will likely be the best time to try out the blind. I plan on making a return trip to see what winter brings to the park.

Species: The Nature Center publishes a list of species that can be found in the park. The species spread I found in the blind was pretty thin--White-Winged Doves, a male Northern Cardinal, a couple of hummingbirds (likely Black-Chinned), a House Sparrow, a Carolina Chickadee, a Black Crested Titmouse, and probably a Bewick's Wren.

Lens Requirements:
300mm w/1.4x teleconverter was not enough to get anything resembling intimate shots of the birds. Having to shoot at f5.6 and often in the 1/60th range did not do much for sharpness.

Other Photo Ops: While the blind was not all it had hoped to be, there were plenty of other photo ops inside of the Nature Center. They boast of over a mile of nature trails and I found the butterfly and colorful/non-biting insect population to be very good photo subjects. There were some other birds along the trail, but my choice of time of day did not lend itself to great images. I did well in the butterfly garden, getting my first usuable Giant Swallowtail image and a couple of nice Queen butterfly images. I found these butterflies both in the butterfly garden near the bird blind and on the trails.

Just a few miles outside of town, though is Wildseed Farms. Spend the $5 and go to the Butterfly Haus. Goodness gracious I could have spent all afternoon in there. I will recommend that you go with something smaller than my 300mm/1.4x combo as it was very difficult to shoot in that intimate setting. I would recommend (and I will accomplish next time) a 300mm/macro extension tube combination. Technically I probably could have slapped on the macro tube with the 300mm/1.4x combo, but in an attempt to walk around light I left the photo vest in the car (doh).

Final Thoughts: I had a good time at the Fredericksburg Nature Center. The bird blind was a disappointment and if the only thing that twists your dials is bird photography in a blind, then this is not a trip for you to make.

Having talked via e-mail with the folks who run the place, photography was not the basic consideration when they put the blind up. And for the purpose(s) it was put it up it meets that requirement and then some. It has been optimized for the set of solutions that they were trying to achieve and they did an outstanding job with it. These are some outstanding folks with some outstanding volunteers providing a service to their community and to all who visit the center.

This may sound bad (and if it does, I apologize ahead of time--no offense is intended), but seeing the setup of the blind put me through the paces as a photographer as to why it doesn't work for photography. And knowing why something doesn't work is the springboard for understanding why other things do work. And that's often what photography is about--playing the mental game to think through the process and consider what is missing.

Again, the folks who I dealt with in-person and online were outstanding and talked with me about my concerns and explained why things are the way they are. I respect that and congratulate them on building and maintaining an outstanding 10 acre facility under difficult conditions over the last couple of years. I plan on making a return trip in the winter when the light may be a bit better.

Image: Unidentified Butterfly, Fredericksburg, Texas, (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Sunday, July 20, 2008

July 20th Report - San Angelo S.P.

John Lennon is quoted as saying that life is what happens when we're making other plans. This describes my Sunday visit to the blind at San Angelo State Park. A slightly later start than normal coupled with a number of things that didn't get done yesterday when I was out taking pictures elsewhere cut my time down to no more than about 90 minutes available to me. The laundry list...





Species List
Bewicks Wren
Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Male & Female)
Black Crested Titmouse (Adults & Juveniles)
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Curve-Billed Thrasher
House Finch
House Sparrow
Ladder-Backed Woodpecker (Male)
Mourning Dove
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Mating Pair)
Northern Cardinal (2 Mating Pairs and Juveniles)
Northern Mockingbird
Painted Bunting (Female)
Pyrrhuloxia (Male)
Red-Winged Blackbird
White-Winged Dove
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo


On the walk into the blind I saw a Greater Roadrunner, an Eastern Cottontail, Turkey Vulture, and a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. I heard a Golden-fronted Woodpecker in the parking lot.

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo spent time in the blind a couple of times. The first time he perched on D tree in the same place where I've had nice pictures of Doves and Sparrows, but by the time I got myself oriented to take an image of him he moved on. He did enjoy the mister below Tree D as seen in the picture about.

Not really any other words of wisdom. Again, it was a quick trip in and out because I had other things to do today.

Image: Yellow-billed Cuckoo, San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Initial Description - South Llano River S.P. Blind #4


I had the good fortune to visit South Llano River State park on April 17th and followed-up with a 2nd visit on May 8th. As was the case the first time, park staff & volunteers were very friendly.

This is the 4th of 4 entries on this park to go with the 4 blinds that are in the park. Thank you for your patience while I've struggled to get all 4 of these entries up.

Park Location: South Llano River State Park is located about 5 miles south of the city of Junction off of US Route 377. It is approximately 120 miles west of San Antonio or 295 miles southwest of Dallas.

Blind Location: Inside the park, Blind #4 is not as easy to find. It took me well into my second trip to the park to find it. There are 2 ways to get to the blind. The way that I went is to park in the day use parking area that is technically north of the park headquarters and hiking about a mile to the blind. The easier would be to park in the parking area near blind #3 near the walk-in camping area and walking around the loop of powered camping spots to near space #41 and then walk just a short distance (likely no longer than 100 yards). Remember if you are coming into the park for the first time that day you must first pay the entrance fee at the park headquarters.

Setup: This blind is completely different from all of the other blinds that are in the park. Instead of wooden benches, this blind has padded chairs that are similar to older/traditional theater seats. There are two windows in this blind. The window furthest from the entrance has a padded seat to sit in. The window closest to the entrance is setup as a handicapped access spot and has no seat. Please, if there is a disabled person that wishes to come into the blind, give up this spot and either wait for a spot to open or shoot over the fence.

The blind itself is, well, unique. It is completely fenced in with reasonably low fencing material. This provides a much more intimate view of the birds. The birds don't seem to mind. Neither did the field mouse that I saw the morning I was in this particular blind.

Perches/Attractants: This was a much more natural looking blind than the rest when it came to places for the birds to perch. No chicken wire enclosures for the seed here. Granted that there was not as many perches as I would have liked, but there hardly ever are. By the time I found the blind the sunlight was starting to create issues for me.

AM/PM: This is probably best as an early morning blind. As logistics would have it, I found the blind after 10 and the sunlight was all ready starting to become to harsh for my needs. That being said, my favorite image of a painted bunting was shot at about that time so it just made it more of a challenge.

Species: I spent about an hour in the blind in May. The species I saw inside this blind included: Lark Sparrow, House Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Painted Bunting, White-Winged Dove, and Lesser Goldfinch. And one pesky field mouse. The dominant species were the doves on that particular morning. Your mileage may vary. Again, a full species list for the park and surrounding area can be found here.

Lens Requirements:
The 300mm L IS USM lens worked very well. I'm looking forward to getting back and trying out that lens with the 1.4 teleconverter.

Other Photo Ops: As noted, the Walter Buck Wildlife Management Area adjoins the park. In all reality, it dwarfs the park in terms of overall size. Miles of hiking trails are available in the WMA. Three additional blinds are located in the park as well as a number of hiking trails near the South Llano River and Buck lake. Outside of the park there are
additional wildlife viewing possibilities are listed on the Great Texas Trails - Llano Loop

Image: Painted Bunting, South Llano River S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Monday, July 14, 2008

July 12-13th Report - San Angelo State Park

What an outstanding weekend of birding and bird photography at San Angelo State Park.

Saturday morning I skipped my usual Concho Valley Photography Club meeting and went to the Adult Bird Adventure in the park. This is put on by San Angelo Birding. Met some nice folks and took a few pictures. The special birds that we found that morning was a fledgling Bullock's Oriole (still had much of it's down on it), a number of shore birds at the lake, and a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo that was sitting in the area that should be being misted right now in the bird blind but for whatever reason is not.

As good as the birding was (and it was good), the company was even better and I thank Terry and the good folks who went with us for a fine morning.

After the bird adventure I went back to the blind and did a little bit of shooting. By the time I got back the light had gone away, and in all honesty it wasn't that good of light to begin with--no clouds to diffuse the bright sun. It was good to touch bases with one of the local photographers who was also in the blind with me.

Sunday morning was another matter all together. The skies started as "fair" and it got progressively cloudier. But the clouds were not so thick to kill of the light. On the contrary, the light was very good because of the diffusing and I got a lot of images shot.

Species spread was pretty good and what was there was very photographic. The list this time is a combination of Saturday and Sunday and as always only covers what is seen inside of the blind.

Species List
Ash-Throated Flycatcher
Bewicks Wren
Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Male & Female)
Black Crested Tufted Titmouse (Adult & Juvenile)
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (Female)
Cactus Wren
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Juvenile Male)
Grackle, Great-Tailed
Greater Roadrunner
House Finch
House Sparrow
Ladder-Backed Woodpecker (Male)
Mourning Dove
Nighthawk
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Male only)
Northern Cardinal (Mating Pair[s])
Northern Mockingbird
Pyrrhuloxia (Mating Pair)
Red-Winged Blackbird
Turkey Vulture

Western Kingbird
White-Winged Dove
Wild Turkey
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo


Sunday's highlights...

-- There were two Western Kingbirds who hung out in the blind for a long period of time. They perched well and I got some good images.
-- The Northern Cardinals exhibiting their ritual feeding behavior was very cool. I had seen it in weeks past, but did not have any luck capturing it. As seen above, I'm guessing I did a pretty good job.
-- A Greater Roadrunner came all the way into the blind for the first time since I've been coming out. Roadrunner started by coming from the east and climbed up a tree between A and B trees. It then made it's way into B tree and glided down from about 15-18ft to the ground. From there it looked around a bit before jumping onto the water feature and eventually took a few drinks.
--A no-kidding Cactus Wren sighting. Both my photographer friend and I did a double take and it took until I got the images home to verify it. We assumed based on it's shape it was a Wren. But the photographic evidence proved it.

Red-winged Blackbirds were way down on Sunday as were the house finches and house sparrows. Hummingbirds are also decreasing a bit in population, but that could have been as much the weather as the normal shift in things.

Saturday there was a Wild Turkey that made a few passes into the blind but never really stuck around long. Same could be said for some Bullock's Orioles that wandered through on Sunday. They hung out in the trees on the outside of things but never really did stay long enough for a good shot.

And our friend Peter Cottontail made his first visit inside of the blind, sticking around for the better part of an hour or so, helping to knock down the green grass inside the blind area.

Images:
Northern Cardinals (mating pair), San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller
Greater Roadrunner, San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Friday, July 11, 2008

July 6th Report - San Angelo S.P.

A very good day in the blind. Species spread was really good, but even more importantly I had really good company in the blind as well who pointed me towards a few more places to shoot. So to the couple from Eldorado, I say Thank You Very Much again. Now, the laundry list...

Species List
Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Male & Female)
Black Crested Tufted Titmouse (Adult & Juvenile)
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (Female)
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Juvenile Male)
Grackle, Great-Tailed
House Finch
House Sparrow
Ladder-Backed Woodpecker (Male)
Mourning Dove
Nighthawk
Northern Bobwhite Quail
Northern Cardinal (Male & Female)
Northern Mockingbird
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-Winged Blackbird
Turkey Vulture

White-Winged Dove
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo

The juvenile Black Crested Tufted Titmice were out in force. Towards the end of the morning I was seeing 2-3 at a time, eating seed and starting to mimic their parent's behavior (grab, eat, come back).

Hummingbirds also continued to run strong. But as the numbers go up, so do the territorial tensions. There is one artificial feeder in the blind area and a couple of other plants that are hummingbird friendly.

The Yellow-Billed Cuckoo was unusual to see in the blind, but a welcome visitor. Of course it wasn't too helpful to me as a photographer, but it was nice to see.

Red-Winged Blackbirds seemed to be a little more numerous and the White-Winged Doves far outnumbered their Mourning Dove brothers.

No return visit from the Ash-Throated Flycatcher this time, but my fingers are crossed for next time around.

Image: Black Crested Tufted Titmouse (Juvenile), San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Paid Blind Review: The Petersen Ranch

First a couple of notes. This is the first of my paid blind reviews. My goal is to give an unbiased account of my experiences. These reviews are going to run longer than my normal initial blind reports for a couple of reasons. First, unlike other places where there are multiple blinds, there's no good way to separate them. And second, and probably most importantly, I look at a trip to one of these areas as an investment both in time and money and I want to be more detailed in my descriptions.

Full Disclosure: I paid the full advertised fee for this blind visit. I did not disclose prior to the visit that I would be doing a review, though I have mentioned it in the weeks after the visit. I have no financial relationship with any photographer mentioned in this blog entry nor with the Petersen Ranch.

Location: The Petersen Ranch is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. It is located between the towns of Fredericksburg and Blanco. A general location is listed on their website. When you pay your deposit you get a more detailed set of instructions on how to get there.

Fee: The fee for the day is $125 for use of the blinds. This is in line with all of the members of the Hill Country Nature Photography Alliance. An additional fee is required for a guide if you're going to be hiking the canyons or heading down to the springs--check the ranch website for more information. Workshops are also done at the ranch with the cost of the visit to the ranch built into the workshop fee. Photographers such as Kathy Adams Clark and Larry Ditto are just a couple of photographers who have offered workshops on the ranch.

Lodging: At the time of my visit, lodging was not available at the ranch. Lodging is available in the nearby communities of Fredericksburg, Blanco, and Boerne. I chose to stay near Blanco at the Ghost Creek Ranch Guest Cabins. If I'm traveling alone I'm more of a "Give me 4 walls, a bathroom, and a door and I'm happy"sort of person. But my traveling companion is more upscale than I and we went with Ghost Creek. It turned out to be an outstanding choice and if circumstances are similar the next time I go out to the area we will be sure to utilize these facilities again.

Visit Date: I visited the Petersen Ranch on April 19th, 2008.

Blind Setup: Actually the answer is blinds set up. There are 4 active blinds at the Ranch. These were designed by Sean Fitzgerald, a professional photographer who has been out to the ranch numerous times to include during his involvement during the 2006 Images for Conservation contest.

Blind Station #1 is the Carrion Blind. It is setup with the intention to catch vultures and other scavengers for a meal of dead mammal. Bob was at work nuking that morning's "meal" when I arrived at the ranch and he put it out when he got me into the blind. That morning a combination of lack of early birds and lack of patience resulted in no shots from the blind, though by the time I got done with Blind #2 the meat had been consumed over at Station #1. There is room for theoretically up to 6 photographers at this station.

Blind Station #2 is the Morning Blind. It is set up for 6 shooters in two separate blinds. Directly in front of the blinds in the photography area is a number of natural perches for birds to land on, a water area for birds and animals to drink from, seed feeders, and the remnants of a tree that has small holes bored in it for a protein mixture for woodpeckers and others that will feed from that type of food. The key with this blind is that everything is close. The camo covering the sitting area is a necessity and allows for very intimate portraits of the birds.

Blind Station #3 is the Afternoon Blind. It is set up very similarly to blind #2 but is pointed in an orientation that is best for afternoon light.

Blind Station #4 is the Pavilion blind. Really this is a really big deck with camo type curtains and a number of places for birds and other animals to feed from and perches for them to land on. My guess is that you could probably get most of a small photography club into the pavilion and this is where many teaching professionals will gather their students because it is so conducive to teaching. Seed, nectar, grain, and protein feeding stations are situated around the pavilion to bring in a large range of bird and mammal species. What was most outstanding about the Pavilion blind during April was that there was a flock of Wild Turkey that came out both in early morning and late at night to feed and otherwise show off. We're not talking one or two but closer to a dozen. I'd never seen that many in one place in my life and they were reasonably tolerant of me.

Bob Petersen reports that additional blinds will be put up next year.

Other Photo Opportunities: There are over 800 acres on the Petersen Ranch. 800 acres in the heart of the Texas Hill Country--what a playground! Unfortunately when I visited I was still recovering from a broken wrist so I did not feel comfortable hiking through the backwoods. The mammal, reptile, flora, and landscape possibilities are nearly endless. I'd recommend looking both at the picture archives on the ranch website as well as Sean Fitzgerald's site to get a wider view of what's available (take a look at the "30 days, one texas ranch" portfolio).

Equipment Used/Recommended: I carried both my 10D (with 70-300IS mounted) and my 30D (with 300mm f4 IS USM L mounted). I carried/used both my monopod and tripod. I brought and used my circular polarizer. I could have used a longer lens than my 300mm and/or had my teleconverter, but I did okay with 300mm.

I had not purchased my LensCoat gear for the 300mm f4 L IS USM so I'd be curious to see another time how much of a difference that made with my wildlife shots.

I brought my laptop but spent most of the day shooting so I didn't use it until I got back to the room.

Observations/Lessons Learned: First and foremost, the trip to the ranch was outstanding. Easily in the top 5 of my lifetime photo shoots in terms of being rewarding photographically and teaching me about myself as a photographer. The ranch owner, Bob Petersen, is an outstanding host and steward of land.

You need to work up to a day or more in the photo blind. I shot from day break to 11 am or so, moved to another spot to relax a bit, and then shot from about 3 pm until I had completely lost the light at 8pm or so. I was so tired by the time I got on the road back to Ghost Creek Cabins that I stopped for about ten minutes in Blanco to make sure that I was safe to drive the next 15 minutes or so to my destination.

The more I thought about it afterwards, the more I favorably compared the mental strain of composing each shot and contemplating f-stop/shutter speed combos and any necessary exposure compensation to a marathon session of computer programming. The primary difference is that the code will wait for you while you down some Dew or Red Bull. The birds won't.

Species spread was very good on my visit. The most photographically inclined birds were Mourning Doves, American & Lesser Goldfinches, Purple Martins, Ladder-Backed Woodpeckers and the Wild Turkeys. I saw many other species of birds, but there had been a shift in the omnivores from strictly seeds to almost strictly protein sources (insects) as the insects started coming out in abundance. Plenty of wildflowers to be seen as well, even in the off year for flowers that we've experienced in this part of the world. A few butterflies, but that's really pretty early in the season for a good show of them.

Easily, I'd do this again.

Image: American Goldfinch (Male), The Petersen Ranch, (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

July 2nd Report - San Angelo S.P.

I thoroughly enjoy being able to get out to the San Angelo State Park on a non-weekend day. Obvious those of us who have normal jobs don't get the opportunity very often, but when compensation time hits a certain point there is a push to get out of the office and burn those hours before they are forgotten or turn into something the boss doesn't like.

So with that in mind, I took the morning of July 2nd off and went out to the bird blind. As mornings go in the blind, this one was reasonably prosperous. Light was not outstanding, but it was workable. But the species variety and more importantly some of the variations in terms of age of the species we see all the time was approaching outstanding.

Here's the laundry list:
Species List
Ash-Throated Flycatcher
Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Male & Female)
Black Crested Tufted Titmouse (Adult & Juvenile)
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (Female)
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Juvenile Male)
House Finch
House Sparrow
Ladder-Backed Woodpecker (Male)
Mourning Dove
Northern Bobwhite Quail (2 Males)
Northern Cardinal (Male & Female)
Northern Mockingbird
Painted Bunting (Female)
Red-Winged Blackbird
Turkey Vulture

White-Winged Dove

House Finch (Male), (c) 2008 Jim Miller - jim@jmillerphoto.com
Some things of note... Two male Northern Bobwhites was horribly unusual. The norm is a mating pair. The 2 males were understandably staking out who's area was who's.

Good to see the Painted Bunting again. I marked female, but after some additional instruction lately it is very possible that it is a juvenile male vice a female. Tough to tell at the distance I've been shooting at.

Unusual sightings:
-- Ash-Throated Flycatcher. First flycatcher that has spent any time in the blind area
-- Juvenile Black Crested Tufted Titmouse. Took re-examination of the pictures to spot it.
-- Juvenile Golden-Fronted Woodpecker. A surprise, but given the other Golden-Fronted Activity I've seen it is not out of the unusual.

Hummingbird activity is way up with multiple hummingbirds present most of the time in the blind area. Of course, food availability is limited, so they're fighting over what is present.

Not as much mammal life lately. Hoped the cottontails would make it into the blind by now, but no such luck.

Image: House Finch (Male) San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

So Much For Catching Up

I hope that your Independence Weekend was as safe and prosperous as mine was. However, as Robert Burns once wrote, (and Vin Scully regularly quotes) the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. How correct he was.

My four day weekend snipped down to nearly nothing. So did my chances of getting a lot of work done on the blog. What is in the queue in the next few days:

The Petersen Ranch review
South Llano River State Park Blind #4 Initial Review
July 2nd San Angelo State Park Blind Report
July 6th San Angelo State Park Blind Report
Fredericksburg Nature Center Photo Blind Initial Review
Hummer House Photo Blind Initial Review

The first two are written and will go out over the next 4 days. The Blind Reports should be pretty easy to put together and will follow immediately thereafter. The FNC and Hummer House Reviews will take longer.

And, with any luck, I'll be able to finally get some progress made on cleaning off my desk at home...

[July 10th Edit-- I've delayed publishing the South Llano River Blind #4 to sometime next week and the Fredericksburg Nature Center review is temporarily on hold while I await some additional information...]

Image: Ash-Throated Flycatcher, San Angelo S.P. (c) 2008 Jim Miller