March 21st Report - San Angelo State Park

Good morning in the blind. I had hoped to get out and about this weekend to someplace other than the same old thing, but family obligations and a very sore wrist kept me from traveling very far. I'm scheduled for another appointment for the wrist sometime in the next couple of weeks so hopefully we'll get to the bottom of that one--it's eating into my photography time ;)

But since I was more or less stuck in San Angelo (though happily stuck, may I add), and the light looked to be perfect, I headed out to the park to see what I could see.

Light was outstanding. Maybe a little bright at first and certainly the quality of the light changed often during my time in the blind. But it was almost universally good and only my impatience and knowing I had other things to accomplish on Saturday kept me from staying longer. Start time of actual shooting was around 8:25 and I stayed exactly 2 hours. Body count of the images was just south of 270 images and most of them were very good. The only significant mistake that I made was that I went to ISO 400 early in the morning because the shutter speeds were getting below 1/80th. As things brightened I did not go back to drop the ISO back to 200. With the 30D this is not a huge issue--noise is minimal at ISO 400. But at 200 it is far better.

First image of the day was a male Northern Cardinal. Last image was a Red-winged Blackbird. In between was a good variety of the standard late winter/early spring birds. The Orange-crowned warbler made his appearance and the small covey of Northern Bobwhites made an appearance as well with at least 5 being in the blind area at once. Pyrrhuloxia were out in large numbers as well, probably outnumbering the Northern Cardinals which is a very unusual occurrence. House Sparrows are becoming more abundant, though White-crowned sparrows are still out in force. If last year is any indication, the White-crowns should be starting to make their way elsewhere over the next few weeks. No repeat performances though from the Greater Roadrunner or the Golden-fronted Woodpecker and I haven't seen the Ladderbacks in weeks.

Again, a good shooting experience in the blind--well worth being stuck in town again.

Images:
Red-winged Blackbird (Female), San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller
Pyrrhuloxia (Male), San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller

March 7th Report - San Angelo State Park

After getting my car out of the shop this week I had every intention to go to South Llano River State Park. But as I've quoted on this blog before (with respect and credit to Robert Burns), "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." I won't go into the particulars, but it involved both my normal Monday to Friday job and my photography sales side gig.

But, as luck would have it the weather was perfect for the sun-challenged blind that is the blind at San Angelo State Park. Saturday's forecast called for mostly to completely cloudy skies and the weatherman did not disappoint.

I got out to the blind at about 8:00 and after taking care of some things in the blind area under the auspices of my relationship with Friends of San Angelo State Park, I was ready to rock and roll.

First bird into the camera was a Curve-billed Thrasher. Unusual for a first bird, but I wasn't complaining. As the morning went on it was obvious that there was not one but two Curve-billed Thrashers making the rounds in the blind. Since there are minimal differences between the males and females and since Curve-billed's aren't exactly the most flock-like species, my guess is that they are a mating pair. Again, that's my guess. I'm not an ornithologist nor do I play one on TV.

No laundry list for this visit. Very narrow species spread. No titmice this time around. Cardinals and Pyrrhuloxia were around but were not in huge numbers. Lots and lots of Red-winged Blackbirds.

I made just under 200 exposures in my two hours out at the blind.

Images:
White-winged Dove, San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller
Curve-billed Thrasher, San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller

February 16th Blind Report: San Angelo State Park

It's always good to have a Monday away from the office to go out to "the other office." Saturday was a lost shooting morning due to Concho Valley Photography Club. Always a blast and a great learning experience, but I can't shoot and be at the club meeting. Sunday's light was horrible--no sense wasting my time on bad light.

So Monday rolled around and it was heavily overcast. I wasn't holding my breath on getting great shots, but I knew that this would be better than my lack of opportunity on Sunday.

I made it out to the blind at about 9AM. A phone call on my way into the park slowed me down by about a half hour or so. Light was cold and minimal when I got out there, but as the morning progressed so did the light. Started out shooting at ISO 200 with exposures of 1/40th to 1/60th of a second at f/6.3 and by the time I left, depending on the direction I was shooting, exposure times were 1/150th to 1/400th of a second at the same ISO and f-stop.

Image opportunities were good. Multiple opportunities on Red-winged Blackbirds. They were darn near at invasion levels from time to time. A small smattering of Brown-headed Cowbirds made their return as well. I'm never pleased to see them, but have to report what I see.

There were a couple of oddities. Pyrrhuloxias, who normally are not exactly people friendly, made much closer passes to the blind. I think I matched my all-time favorite male shot on this photo opportunity. Also reasonably rare was the orange variant of the House Finch. I'm told that this is not a subspecies, but just a rarity. Whether through genetics or diet is an open debate. Regardless, got a couple of decent images of him as well.

No laundry list--my copy of my notes did not make it between the car and the house.

Images:
House Finch (Male) - orange variation, San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller
Red-winged Blackbird (Male), San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller

February 8th Blind Report - San Angelo State Park

As mentioned on my February 8th entry, I made the choice to travel on Saturday and stay local on Sunday because the weather on Sunday had the potential to be really bad. As it turned out, it was a good decision to stay local.

I got out to the blind a little bit after 8:30 and the cloud cover was pretty significant. Temperature was reasonably warm, but the wind was blowing pretty well. After I took care of some volunteer-related activities, I settled into the blind and was joined by another of the regulars to the blind.

The theme of the day was spurts. We'd go 10-15 minutes of big numbers of birds, and then all of a sudden a hurried departure and no birds for 5-10 minutes. The cycle went through a few times and our guess was that there was some form of predator making the rounds but we weren't sure what it was. At about 10AM we got our answer--a hawk flew across the face of the blind chasing one of the house finches. The weather was starting to get even more windy and the light was quickly disappearing so it was a good time to pull stakes and get out.

The only real surprise of the day was not bird but mammal--a skunk wandered in around the blind looking for some water. He found a little bit and then away he went. I didn't get what I would consider wall-worthy material, but certainly something that I'll be able to use in the near future.

No laundry list on this visit.

Image: Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Male), San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller

January 17th Blind Report - San Angelo State Park

Very fine morning of shooting in the blind. Polar opposite of my last visit in the blind...

As those of you who read the page regularly know, my typical day out to the blind is Sunday. My significant other and I do not share a specific common faith belief, so she takes off for a traditional church and I take off for my 2-3 hours of meditation and reflection.

But Friday night, looking at the sky conditions here in San Angelo I got to thinking about how Saturday might look. So a quick run to weather.com and the hour-by-hour forecast showed that Saturday morning was going to be mostly cloudy. Bingo. Guess we'll have an extra session of meditation and reflection on Saturday. It was a genuinely good call.

Light was perfect Saturday morning. Very cloudy to start with, but the clouds were not so thick to obscure all of the light. Sure, at ISO 200 I was at f/5.6 and between 1/50th and 1/100th at the very beginning, but I resisted the urge to step it up to ISO 400. I find that ISO 400 is very printable with the Canon 30D, but old film habits die hard and I always try to shoot with the lowest ISO possible.

As the morning progressed the light did get better and I eventually settled closer into the f/8 range with more manageable shutter speeds.

The shoot started very unusually--a Golden-Fronted Woodpecker was the first bird I was able to get an image of. First time in all of the times I've shot at the blind that this was the case.

Here is the laundry list. Very good species spread. In addition to what is posted, there is an another sparrow that I've not seen before and I'm asking for some guidance amongst the local birding community. Update (Jan 19): The sparrow that I could not previously identify was a Lincoln's Sparrow. I will share the image in a future blog entry.

Some highlights: My first somewhat decent image of a male Pyrrhuloxia, though I would have preferred that he was perched on anything other than the terracotta feeder. Cardinals were running strong. The more ground-type birds (i.e. Greater Roadrunners and Northern Bobwhites) were nowhere to be found, but I did see a Roadrunner outside of the park as I was making my way to the blind.

I did get a life list entry. I saw my first Eastern Meadowlark. Okay, for those of you who grew up in this area you're probably scratching your head and going "Huh?" But I did not grow up in this area and while I've seen a Western Meadowlark, I've never seen it's eastern cousin.

Overall, this was an outstanding morning in the blind.

Images:
Pyrrhuloxia (Male), San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller
Bewick's Wren, San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller

January 11th Blind Report - San Angelo State Park

Yes, I know this report is long in coming, but to be very honest with you I didn't even bother pulling the images out of the camera until this evening. Temps were a little warmer than last weekend, but the sky was incredibly devoid of cloud cover. As such, the light was horribly bright and horribly stark. I shot for a grand total of 25 minutes... it actually took me longer to get out to the park, get setup, and then pull things down and go home than the amount of time I spent in the blind. Experience told me that there was nothing that could be done with the light conditions.

Having opened up the images tonight, I can assure you that this is the case. The images are generally awful, which is too bad because the bird species swath was as wide as I've seen it in weeks. Cardinals, Pyrrhuloxia, Sparrows, Bobwhites, Thrasher, Woodpeckers--the whole normal crowd and in good numbers. But with the awful light I struggled to get one image to put up here.

The upside was I got that 25 minutes to play with my 322RC2 tripod head that showed up earlier in the week.

Fingers crossed for a better light this weekend. I really want to put that tripod head through it's paces...

Image: Northern Cardinal (Male), San Angelo State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller

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

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

June 28th Report - San Angelo S.P.

It was a great morning in the blind. Sunlight was pleasing, bird population was good, and image opportunities were plentiful.

I got into the blind at/about 8:05 AM. Temps were all ready starting to touch 80, but it never really got oppressively hot. Left at 11 AM as two other photographers from Midland were just getting started.

The laundry list:

Species List
Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Male & Female)
Black Crested Tufted Titmouse
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (Female)
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Male & Female)
Greater Roadrunner
House Finch
House Sparrow
Ladder-Backed Woodpecker (Male)
Mourning Dove
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Mating Pair)
Northern Cardinal (Male, Female, & Juvenile)
Northern Mockingbird
Red-Winged Blackbird
Western Kingbird
White-Winged Dove

It was very nice to see the Ladder-Backed Woodpecker back in the blind. He made the wide tour of the outer trees but did not come in on the inside perches. Focus this time was much better than before and was lighting conditions. I expect that will be an 8x10 in the very near future.

The Roadrunner stayed outside of the blind to the right of D tree. He came in close enough to get an identifiable shot, but I'm not completely happy with it. I'm happy enough to post it, though ;)

No painted buntings this morning. Not sure what has changed since my last visit (and no additional bird reports on the clipboard in the blind). Hope they're back next time.

Many, many birds around. This was the first time with my 30D where I filled two cards inside of the blind and was well into the third card when I decided that enough was enough and the light was starting to leave me. Just overall an outstanding morning.

Image: Greater Roadrunner, San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

June 22nd Report - San Angelo S.P.

This was easily as good of a photo session as I've had in weeks. Three solid hours in the blind gave me over 485 images exposed. Great way to cap off a good week in the park.

I spent about 3 hours at the park this week with the Day Camp they were having at the park. There were about 30 or so pre-teens that were taking part and I volunteered a couple of weeks back to teach them a little something about birding and bird photography. It was surprisingly a very enjoyable morning with 28 very well behaved young people. As for the other two, well, we can't all be perfect.

Beyond sharing this addiction, it was also a good opportunity to do some scouting. In between my last visit and my visit mid-week there has been a population explosion of Cottontail Rabbits. We saw probably 4 or 5 with the campers mid-week, and I saw another 2 or 3 walking up the trail to the blind this morning. They're still not in the mood for being photo subjects, but give them so time and they'll come around. In the blind this morning the species spread was very good and the numbers were, well, different. First the laundry list...

Species List
Bewick's Wren
Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Male & Female)
Black Crested Titmouse
Boat-Tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (Male & Female)
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Male & Female)
House Finch
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Mating Pair)
Northern Cardinal (Male, Female, & Juvenile)
Northern Mockingbird
Painted Bunting (Male & Female)
Pyrrhuloxia (Female)
Red-Winged Blackbird
Scissortailed Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
White-Winged Dove

Some other notes... I saw a couple of Jackrabbits on the way into the park. Pipevine Swallowtail, Variegated Frittalry, and Hackberry Emperor butterflies seen inside the blind and some variety of sulphur butterfly (need to do some more research).

No repeat of the Ladder-backed Woodpecker this morning, but the Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers were very active. On the full-size of the attached image, he has a sunflower seed in his bill and you can see his tongue plainly in between his upper and lower beak. He would take those seeds, put them into a previously drilled hole, and then beat the heck out the shell. Very cool behavior opportunity. Red-Winged Blackbird and House Sparrow numbers were way down (though I'm being invaded by House Sparrows at my house just 5 minutes away). Bronzed Cowbird, Titmouse, and White-Winged Dove numbers were up. Also saw my first juvenile Northern Cardinal of the season.

Wish all trips to the blind could be as productive as this one.

Image: Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Male), San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

June 15th Report: San Angelo S.P.

It's been a busy month this week so I'm not going to have my standard level of verbosity about my day in the blind.

Warm & sunny with no clouds to diffuse any of the light. Shadows were harsh and sun was harsh. Really not a good day of shooting.

I won't do the laundry list because there weren't a lot of changes. No titmice, but a good and multiple showings by the Painted Buntings. Bunch of Bullock's Orioles as well, though they're still not willing to pose real pretty.

The highlight of the morning was a pair of list birds for my camera. Bird 1 was a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo that I saw on the walk up. The image was obscured by branches so I will have to wait for a better opportunity to make a wall shot.

Bird #2 was a Ladder-Backed Woodpecker. It was in the blind and it was an okay shot. Lighting was tough and the focus was a hair off. Fill-flash would have helped. But it's not a bad shot.

Image: Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Male), San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

June 8th Report: San Angelo S.P.

I am dragging tonight. It's been a very long weekend at SASP. I spent 7 hours on Saturday at the park working with Friends of SASP talking about birding, bird photography, and the bird blind. Awesome time, but very windy and very busy. My personal thanks go out to Family Power Sports of San Angelo for providing a Kawasaki Mule to help ferry folks from the pavilion where most of the events were going on to the bird blind. It made a huge difference.

Today I spent another 4 hours in the park at the bird blind and a quick drive around the park to include a brief visit to the Prairie Dog Town. I had not been out there before and honestly it is far from being the highlight of the park. I think with some work it could be a magnificent draw to the park, but in it's current form there's not much to be seen there.

I did get a couple of good doggie shots from my 4-wheeled blind and I'm sure that those will show up shortly. I will know to go earlier in the morning next time to get better angles, or possibly later in the afternoon, though those will be done also within the confines of the 4-wheeled blind because late afternoon is also a great time for snakes. If I'm making images of snakes, I prefer to do them with a 600mm lens with a 2x teleconverter and with an RF shutter release.

As for the blind report. Got in early, left later than normal. Weather was pretty miserable. Windy and very cloudy up until close to noon. Temperature was reasonable enough (translated: cool) but the lighting was a bear to work with. But there was a good variety of species available there making for a reasonably mediocre morning. The laundry list...

Species List
Bewick's Wren
Black-Chinned Hummingbird
Boat-Tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (Male)
Cactus Wren
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Female)
House Finch
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Mating Pair)
Northern Cardinal (Male only)
Northern Mockingbird
Painted Bunting (Male & Female)
Red-Winged Blackbird
White-Winged Dove

The trend of White-Winged Doves outnumbering Mourning Doves continued, with the Mourning Doves not showing up until around 11 am.

Boat-Tailed Grackle is a regular resident elsewhere in the park, but I'd not seen that bird in the bird blind before. Northern Mockingbirds spent a good deal of time posing as well--a reasonably usual behavior as the spring turns into summer and there are a few more insects within the confines of the blind..

The male Northern Cardinals were being exceptionally photo tolerant today with about 50 frames shot in 3 opportunities.

Good day in the blind, but I'm drained...

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

June 1st Report: San Angelo S.P.

Following up from the last report from the blind. I did get the chance last weekend to walk some of the trails in San Angelo S.P. after having last visit cut short. I walked what is labeled as the "Shady Trail" on it's trail head on the North Shore entrance to the park. I saw a few birds, to include a variety of Northern Cardinals, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, and a Summer Tanager, but found the photographic lines to be wanting. I did have great luck on the trail with hairstreak butterflies and a wide variety of species of damselfly. On the downside, I left my macro extension tube at home so it means that I will need to walk the trail again someday. I also had a distant encounter with a Water Moccasin, so I am not likely to do that one by myself anytime soon, either...

It was a good quick morning in the blind. My off-duty supervisor put a last-minute event on my schedule around 10AM so I didn't get to take full advantage of the morning.

Birds were most active after about 9AM. Light was decent, but not great. As is the usual, the light was better before the birds arrived and not so great after they got there. An earlier opening of the park wouldn't have helped much. I must spend some time explaining this to the birds so they can get their watches synchronized to the best photographic light ;)

The Laundry List:

Species List
Black Chinned Hummingbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole (F)
Cactus Wren
Curve-billed Thrasher
Doves (Mourning & White-Winged)
Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Male & Female)
House Finch
House Sparrow
Painted Bunting (Male & Female)
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Mating Pair)
Pyrrhuloxia (Male)
Red-Winged Blackbird (Exclusively Male)
Wild Turkey (Hen)
Western Kingbird

On the way to and from the blind I spotted Scissortailed Flycatchers and a second bird that I'm going to need some guidance on from my birder friends.

No Black-Tufted Titmouse this morning. This may be the first time in months that I've not seen at least one. No Northern Cardinal this morning either. We (the other photographer in the blind and I) heard them, but they did not make an appearance. Mourning dove numbers are dropping. On the way to the park I saw a fledgling White-Winged Dove repeatedly being unsuccessful at it's first flight.

It was good to see the Pyrrhuloxia this morning, though it would have been even better if he had been nice enough to show himself in a position where I could take a good picture of him...

The word for the day was bravery. I'm counting the Wild Turkey as being seen in the blind because I still had one foot in the blind when I spotted her walking by the human entrance to the blind. She did not seem to be all that concerned that I was there and calmly walked around the fence for some seed and some water. Certainly not the brightest Wild Turkey that I've seen in my time in the blind.

The Western Kingbird was a new one for me within the confines of the blind. It spent an extensive amount of time perched and came back a couple of times. The female Bullock's Oriole was also a first for me--so much so that I had to refer to the book at home before I could make a positive ID.

Curve-billed Thrashers were in relative abundance today.

The Bobwhite Quail were considerably braver as well, getting all the way up to the wall of the blind.

Butterfly numbers are also still coming up. I saw a number of hairstreaks as I walked up the trail and the numbers of Variegated Fritillaries and Pipevine Swallowtails seemed significantly higher.

Images:
Blue-Ringed Dancer Damselfly [Argia sedula], San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller
Western Kingbird, San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

May 11th Report - San Angelo S.P.

Interesting morning in the blind. I arrived about 30 minutes later than I like to, but got to "work" at around 8:45.

Black Tufted Titmouse
Black-chinned Hummingbirds
Brown-headed Cowbirds
Curved Bill Thrasher
Doves (White-Winged and Mourning)
House Finch
Northern Cardinal (Male/Female)
Northern Bobwhite Quail (Male)
Northern Mockingbird
Oriole (either Bullock's or Altamira -- ID Pending)
Painted Bunting (Male)
Red-winged Blackbird (almost exclusively male)
Sparrows (Rufus-Crowned and House)
Turkey Vulture
Wild Turkey (Hen)

This was my first opportunity to shoot with my gear dressed up in their new LensCoat gear. Initial impressions are very good. Many of the species appeared much more willing to perch on the three perching stations in front of the water. This resulted in nearly full-frame images of Mourning and White Winged Doves, Northern Cardinal (Male), and Red-Winged Blackbirds at 300mm.

It helped that the light was good, also. I was able to get some very good shots of Brown-Headed Cowbirds without the typical glare that I'm used to from having too much/wrong light.

This morning was my 2nd male Painted Bunting sighting in as many trips to the blind. He actually came in twice this morning. First was so quick that he was gone almost before I realized he was there--he left a Technicolor blur on a single frame. Second visit lasted almost a minute while he checked out the situation and grabbed a drink from the water feature. I have not seen a female to go with this male. My hope is that she is incubating some eggs somewhere so the population will increase.

On the pending ID of the oriole, this is where I will admit that I am a much more experienced photographer than I am a birder. I knew that something was up because I heard a call I'd never heard before. I saw a flash of yellow and was able to spot the bird in the trees. Unfortunately, I had neither enough lens nor an unobstructed view to get a great picture. Bullock's Oriole would make more sense as far as range goes--Altamira's are generally closer to the Rio Grande and points south. But the images I have look much closer to a Altamira--there's no black cap on the bird's head. I've passed the images to a far more experienced birder and I should have an answer soon. [May 12th Update: The bird in question has been identified as a juvenile Bullock's Oriole which likely would explain the lack of black cap and the lighter shade of orange.]

I saw another species in the blind I'd never seen before, but I'm also waiting on an ID on that one. This one I don't have much of a run on as to what it was, but I have much better pictures. More to follow in the next blind report. [May 12th Update: The bird I couldn't identify in this instance was a Bronzed Cowbird. The image in the blog is it's cousin the Brown-headed Cowbird. I'll share the Bronzed Cowbird in a future post.]

Image: Brown-headed Cowbird, San Angelo S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

May 3rd Report - San Angelo State Park

Time: 8am to 11am
Weather: Sunny but windy. Temperature from 51-59º F
Species: Good variety.

Doves (White-Winged and Mourning)
Sparrows (White-Crowned, Rufus-Crowned, and House)
Northern Cardinal (Male/Female)
Bobwhite Quail (Male/Female)
Wild Turkey (Hen)
Black Tufted Titmouse
Red-winged Blackbird (Primarily Male)
Brown-headed Cowbirds (way too many)
House Finch
Black-chinned Hummingbirds
Cactus Wren
Painted Bunting (!!)

I'd never seen a Painted Bunting in the park but had been told they were there. Not a "lister" for me (added that in a stop to South Llano River State Park a few weeks ago), but happy to see the bird in the park. [Update 5MAY: I got an identifiable image, but not one that I'm happy with. Next time...]

Outside of the blind I saw the following: Northern Mockingbird, Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Female), and another bird which I'm working to identify.

Initial Description - San Angelo State Park Blind

A bit of housekeeping here. With each new blind location I will give a basic description of the blind location, whether the blind photographically is a morning or afternoon blind, how the blind(s) are set up, and any other pertinent information.

For San Angelo State Park, the blind is officially known as a wildlife viewing area and would be noted as such on the map if Texas Parks & Wildlife would update SASP's map. The blind has been up for a couple of years but their map has not been updated. Sadly, the same could be said for the various nature trails that are available in the park, but Friends of SASP has some maps on their website and rangers may have better copies in their gate houses.

Location: The park is in the city of San Angelo, Texas. Because SASP is divided between North and South Shores by O.C. Fisher Lake, you must enter the South Shore gate to get to the bird blind. The South Gate is off of Rd 2288, about two miles from where it intersects with US 67. Enter through the south gate and you will see a sign pointing you to Wildlife Viewing. Park in the paved parking immediately past the sign and to the right, then walk down a short dirt road to the blind. The blind is at the end of the dirt road.

Setup: The bird blind is a small shack with movable benches. Unlike the blinds at Pedernales State Park or South Llano River State Park (reviews coming), there are windows that can be opened that run the entire face of the blind as well as two small windows on the sides of the blind. Up to three photographers can comfortably work the blind at a time. Outside the blind there is fencing with openings for cameras as overflow or to increase stealth. They are not set up well for the perches that have been set up.

Perches/Attractants: Three perches have been set up in the front part of the blind. Trees are behind the perches, and a water source is in the middle of the setup. The blind is serviced regularly with seed.

AM/PM: This is a morning blind. Best light is from light overcast conditions, but blind is still very workable with bright sun.

Species: A wide variety of seed feeders come to this blind. Most common spring/summer birds include: Northern Cardinals, White-Crowned Sparrows, Black Tufted Titmice, White Winged and Mourning Doves, Golden-Fronted Woodpeckers, House Finches, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Brown-Headed Cowbirds, and Black-Chinned Hummingbirds. Pictures of what others have shot are on the walls of the blind. Because flowers are also in the area to attract hummingbirds, a small number of butterflies come into the photographing area as well with Pipevine Swallowtails being the most spectacular. I have had rabbits and deer come into the blind to feed as well.

Lens Requirements: I have shot very successfully off of both my Canon EF 70-300mm IS lens and my EF 300mm L f4 lens. I have seen as big as 500mm with a 2x teleconverter. Definitely overkill I think, but it does lengthen the possibilities.

Other Photo Ops: There are many additional photo ops within the park as well as in the local community of San Angelo. The road that you take to get to the photo blind is intersected by just one of the many trails in the park, the so-called Strawberry Trail. My experience has been that this trail is outstanding for butterflies and flowers as the spring starts to turn to summer. My favorite photo area in San Angelo is the Int'l Water Lily Collection off of Pecos. Outstanding flower, dragonfly, damselfly, and butterfly opportunities abound here.

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

Welcome!!!

Welcome to the initial entry on Texas Photo Blinds. The purpose of this blog will be to discuss places where photographers can either use an existing blind or setup a portable blind and start shooting.

My home blind is the "Wildlife Viewing Area" at San Angelo State Park, maintained by the Friends of San Angelo State Park. In this spot you can expect me to give regular updates on the species that I find and some example pictures. This blind is my home blind because it is about 10 minutes from my front door. For especially this blind, but for others as appropriate, I will highlight other photo opportunities both in the immediately vicinity of the blind, but also in/around the local area.

I will also cover other blinds as I get to them, both public blinds (usually in state and national parks) as well as on ranches where landowners have set up blinds for a nominal fee. One review is in the hopper and others will come along as I can afford to pay for them.

I have created a Google Map of the blinds that I'm aware of in Texas and I will make that available as soon as I can figure out how to link it and secure it.

Thoughts, suggestions, etc? Let me know!

Again welcome and I hope you find this to be a useful resource.

-jim