Workshop Update #1

Consider change #1 to be more of a change of venue.  I have created the Google Docs spreadsheet for ease of viewing.  It was all getting very crowded very quickly whereas a spreadsheet takes care of this sort of thing beautifully.  All of the hyperlinks have been removed from this page and there is a complete list of hyperlinks on the Google Doc spreadsheet.

Also of note, Sharron Jay at Block Creek Natural Area reports that there are spaces available for the ICF Pro-Am date.  Contact her for more information.


April
ICF Pro-Am (Mike Sloat) - River Ranch - April 12-16
David Cardinal - Block Creek Natural Area - April 18-23
Christopher Dodds - Best of Texas (LRGV) - April 23-27
David Cardinal - Rio Grande Valley Ranches - April 24-30
Kathy Adams Clark - Block Creek Natural Area - April 27-29
ICF Pro-Am (Dale Franz) - Cotulla Ranches - April 27-30
ICF Pro-Am (Butch Ramirez) - Rocking R6 Ranch - April 27-30

May
Andy Long - Lower Rio Grande Ranches - May 2-8
ICF Pro-Am (Dale Franz) - Block Creek Natural Area - May 3-7
ICF Pro-Am (Mike Sloat) - Los Madrones - May 3-7
Larry Ditto - Block Creek Natural Area - May 11-13
ICF Pro-Am (Jeff Parker) - Tacubaya Ranch - May 17-21
ICF Pro-Am (John Pickles) - Dos Venadas - May 17-21
Sean Fitzgerald - Block Creek Natural Area - May 18-20
ICF Pro-AM (Larry Ditto) - El Potrero Ranch - May 31-June 4

June
Kathy Adams Clark - Rio Grande Valley Ranch Shoot - June 3-5
Kathy Adams Clark - Block Creek Natural Area - June 22-24

Spring Workshop Updates

This is the first swing at assembling a list of workshops that are going on this spring. The deeper I've gotten into trying to do this, the more I realize why I've never tried this before (or I've tried and I've repressed the memory of it...).

Updates are coming soon.  If you know of other workshops going on, please feel free to share.

Of note is Block Creek Natural Area that has 6(!) workshops or tours going through the property this spring.  I'd say that's a sign that they have a quality property and they treat photographers well.  At least three of those are repeat pro photographers.

April
ICF Pro-Am (Mike Sloat) - River Ranch - April 12-16
David Cardinal - Block Creek Natural Area - April 18-23
David Cardinal - Rio Grande Valley Ranches - April 24-30
Kathy Adams Clark - Block Creek Natural Area - April 27-29
ICF Pro-Am (Dale Franz) - Cotulla Ranches - April 27-30
ICF Pro-Am (Butch Ramirez) - Rocking R6 Ranch - April 27-30

May
Andy Long - Lower Rio Grande Ranches - May 2-8
ICF Pro-Am (Dale Franz) - Block Creek Natural Area - May 3-7
ICF Pro-Am (Mike Sloat) - Los Madrones - May 3-7
Larry Ditto - Block Creek Natural Area - May 11-13
ICF Pro-Am (Jeff Parker) - Tacubaya Ranch - May 17-21
ICF Pro-Am (John Pickles) - Dos Venadas - May 17-21
Sean Fitzgerald - Block Creek Natural Area - May 18-20
ICF Pro-AM (Larry Ditto) - El Potrero Ranch - May 31-June 4

June
Kathy Adams Clark - Block Creek Natural Area - June 22-24

Again, more updates coming as I find more time to flesh things out.  Have patience--I'm but one guy with a bum foot ;)

Blind Map Updated

I have updated the Texas Bird Blind Google Map.  I added both the Kreutzberg Canyon Natural Area and Blanco SP information.

Still hunting down a couple more.  As I find the information, I will pass it along.

Initial Blind Report: Kreutzberg Canyon Natural Area

I have neglected this blog.  I do apologize.  My Assorted Ramblings blog and work has been taking up the lion's share of my time and I have not spread the news about this new set of blinds.

There are three new blinds to report to you.  Well, new to me.  But also reasonably new to everyone, having been up I believe just a little more than a year.

Kreutzberg Canyon Natural Area is a smallish county park in Kendall County, about 20 minutes or so outside of Boerne, Texas.  It sits on the Guadalupe River, though admittedly I've not been down to the river yet in the two visits that I've made.

The entry price is right--Free.  Though at the same time I strongly urge you that if you use the blinds that you drop a couple of dollars in the donation container to help pay for feed and future upkeep.  If we're using it, we should be paying for it.  I have used the concept that I'd pay $5 to get into Pedernales Falls SP so I try to drop that in the bucket.

There are three blinds on the property.  I will do more detailed write-ups on them later because there is a significant difference in what you will see from blind to blind.  But for now I will paint with a roller and later I'll get out the small brush to work the trim.  Much of this preview is going to be comparing this blind to others on public lands.

The three blinds are labeled the Cuckoo, Chaparral, and Cardinal.  The Cardinal blind is closest to the River.  The Cuckoo is closest to the office, though you can see the Chaparral from the Cuckoo so there's not a lot of a distance between the two. All are more or less the size of medium to large sized storage sheds.  The biggest is probably as big as the Acorn blind at South Llano River SP.  The smallest on par with the blind at San Angelo SP. 

All three blinds have comfortable seating, but they are fixed in place.  Seats similar to the Acorn blind at South Llano River SP minus the padding/spring.  I found this very conducive to shooting.

The enclosure area for the blinds are much more intimate than any I've seen.  The back wall of the deepest enclosure area is closer than the back wall at SLRSP's Acorn blind.  The downside on a couple of them is that the metal fencing material that they used 

There are wooden doors that open to give photographers non-glass openings--very much like the one at Lost Maples SNA but bigger.  The downside is that there is no place to sit (bring your own folding stool or be ready to sit on your knees) and it is awkward for a tripod.

Like PFSP, you can certainly shoot through the glass and I was pretty successful in doing so.  Refraction effects become noticeable if you're more than about 30º off of shooting straight through so pick your perch carefully and hope for good luck.

There are tiny water features at 2 of the 3 blinds.  There was no water feature visible at the Cuckoo blind, though there was rainwater collection going on so I don't know if there is a water feature but it is broken or if one does not exist in that blind.

The other two blinds utilize rainwater collection from the roofs.  I am assuming this water is reused for the water features.  This is outstanding planning and very eco-friendly.

The park is located at 143 Mark Twain Drive.  My 4 year old GPS maps located this property on the first try, so it isn't tough to get to.  It is about 25 minutes from Interstate 10 or about 20 minutes from the heart of Boerne.

Again, as I catch up I will give a little more detail to the three blinds as each has their own character and their most likely suspects when it comes to bird species.

Images
Bewick's Wren, Kreutzberg Canyon Natural Area, © 2012 jmillerphoto.com
Northern Cardinal (Male), Kreutzberg Canyon Natural Area, © 2012 jmillerphoto.com

January 7th Report: Pedernales Falls SP

This one has been a long time in coming.  Sorry.  Been busy.  Mostly with trying to keyword all of the images from this visit and figure out which ones are going to turn into prints.  I wish I had that problem all the time...

It was an outstanding morning of shooting in the blind.  As I mentioned over at Jim's Assorted, Usually Photographic, Ramblings, I left home late and thought I had missed the best of the opportunities.  Over 660 images (and one full card later) I can assure you that I did not.

I won't go through the whole laundry list of birds I saw that day.  If you want to see it, I'll gently nudge you over to my eBird list for the day.  Some of the highlights...

- Seeing a pair of male Ladder-backed Woodpeckers in the blind area at the same time for a while.  To have two woodpeckers of the same species, especially males, co-exist for any length of time was remarkable.

- Seeing my first Eastern Towhee.  I've seen more than my share of Spotted Towhees and there isn't a huge difference between the species (just really white spots on the wings), but to confirm that they are at the park was cool.

- The massive Northern Cardinal invasion.  Wow... if you were in the blind and didn't make a good image of a Northern Cardinal, it was probably time to get on Craigslist and sell your camera equipment.  I don't think that it is an exaggeration that I have 5-6 very printable images of different poses from the day.  It was a banner day for my dipped in red friends.

It was not all wine and roses.  The light did get very harsh towards the end.  There was no evidence that the birds had been fed any seed that day, yet there was plenty of spent seeds on the ground.  It wouldn't hurt to have the area cleaned up a bit.  There was also no obvious evidence of paste/suet/peanut butter type food being out, either.

Regardless, it was an incredible day of shooting and I just wish I'd gotten there two hours earlier and had brought one more memory card.

Image:
Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Pedernales Falls SP, © 2012 jmillerphoto.com

Another Truncated Update

Blog entries are coming soon.  I've been busy with photo shoots here and there and I just haven't caught up here.  I spent one day last weekend at Pedernales Falls SP and I have a blog entry coming about that hopefully in the next day or two.  And then yesterday (Sunday) I visited three different blinds in two different state parks.  Figure on at least two additional blog entries from those visits and perhaps a third, just depending on how things shake out.

A quick bit of good news.  San Angelo SP has replaced the windows in the bird blind there.  When I visited yesterday there was a solid bit of food present and the water was flowing again the water feature.  This is very good news indeed and I'm hoping to make it back up in the next month or so to see if things continue to progress there.

No more news in terms of workshops or other special events at the private blinds.  But as I hear about things I will let you know.

Image:
Field Sparrow, South Llano River SP, ©2012 jmillerphoto.com

News for the New Year

I hope your holidays were good for you and yours and you are plotting out your shooting opportunities in this new year.

I haven't had any time in a blind since my visit to San Angelo State Park.  In fact, the camera sat on the shelf for close to two weeks as the weather was miserable and wet, which is exactly what we needed in Texas.  I will be pulling out my pop-up blind tomorrow as preparation for a visit to San Angelo in a couple of weeks.

I was made aware of a new blind in South Texas.  It is the Rockin' R Ranch, west of Ben Bolt.  A photographer (Jeff Parker) has set up the blinds and the images off of his site are very impressive.  The fee for the day is $125 per day for the blind or $295 for the day for the blind with Jeff working as your guide.  Contact Jeff for more information.

Thanks for making last year really rewarding.  Stay tuned...2012 is going to be outstanding.