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 21st Report: South Llano River State Park

Okay, back to our normally scheduled program talking about photography enjoyed from inside blinds...

Last weekend I made my way back to South Llano River State Park. The plan was to go early in the morning as I had done in the past. Unknown to myself, I had been scheduled for a mid-morning photographic shoot in San Angelo. Given that I couldn't be two places at one time and commitments come before wants & plans, I stuck to the commitment and took care of business. Fun time had...

Okay, so my previously scheduled ends around 11, other small tasks (to include taking advantage of Office Depot's 8Gb Ultra II CF for $24) kept me in town until about 1pm. On the road I go and roll into South Llano River SP around 3pm.
The last time I had been in one of the blinds after 12 o'clock high had been mid-August last year, and even then it had only been to one of the four blinds and on a day that was horribly devoid of light. With clear skies and mild temperatures, I took the opportunity to hit all four of the blinds.

The Reader's Digest version of things is that I can say without a doubt that I'm glad that I found things to take pictures of outside of the bird blinds. I went in reverse order from #4 to #1.

• Blind #4 (Acorn) was mostly under shade when I was shooting (3:15-3:45). Light was good at the back section of the blind (primarily fence area) and the species selection was very light. Mostly sparrows with a couple of dark-eyed juncos. No cardinals and no Wild Turkeys in the blind area. Not a satisfying stop--definitely a much better morning blind.
  
• Blind #3 (Juniper) was lit up reasonably well, but 420mm effective focal length was not nearly enough to get the job done. This blind was also Cardinal Central as there were probably 2 dozen making the rounds. A 500mm or a 600mm would have probably done some good in this blind, but with the slope down of this blind and no close perches, it was a waste of my time but thankfully only a few frames.
• Blind #2 was reasonably more promising, though admittedly my patience was pretty much shot by that point and I believe mornings may be workable this time of year. Got a couple of decent shots in the blind, to include the Black-crested Titmouse pictured here.
• Blind #1 had serious potential, but again it had been a long day and my fellow travelers by that point were tired of waiting for me so I made it an abbreviated stop. Black-throated Sparrows were the highlight here though there were also plenty of cardinals and other things. Big change with this blind was that the wire cages that "protected" the seed were removed since the last time I was there. I'm hoping this is a permanent thing because it made for more photographic opportunities.

The highlight of the day were of the mammal variety. Specifically Armadillos. Again, I'm not a native so the only armadillos I'd seen prior to this visit were very stationary and had all of the tell-tale signs of having a bad case of P215/70R14 disease. On this trip to the park I saw not one, but two possums on a half-shell. In both cases I had far too much lens to make the images I wanted to, yet at the same time the armadillos were in places where man-made structures conflicted with my attempts to make images. Encounter #1 was down the trail from Blind #3 and yielded the better images (better backgrounds). Encounter #2 was in the parking area just outside of Blind #2. Awesome time had by all.

Images:
Black-crested Titmouse, South Llano River State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller
Black-throated Sparrow, South Llano River State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller
Armadillo, South Llano River State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller

Preliminary Report - Lost Maples SNA Blind

On my last trip down the South Llano River State Park, I stopped for a quick bite to eat in Junction at Sonic and then headed down the road to Lost Maples State Natural Area (SNA). I had learned a number of months back that Lost Maples SNA had a blind and I received some input from a couple of the readers here about the place. But I figured that if I'd all ready driven 2 hours to Junction, another almost hour in the car to Lost Maples was worth the trip, even if the light available was not going to be good light.

First off, the staff at Lost Maples SNA were very friendly and responsive to my questions and needs. Great folks, but then again I've rarely had anything other than that to say about TPWD staff at any park, SNA, or WMA.

The blind was only a short distance from the front gate. Make the first left and follow it to it's termination. There is a full-fledged parking lot very close to the blind. This is both good and bad. Good that I didn't have to carry my equipment very far. Bad in that there seemed to be a constant level of noise from the parking area to include folks playing music way too loud. Not what I go to a state park for, but I guess we can't always keep civilization out of paradise.

The other thing that does not help this blind is that it is right next to a trail head with no barrier between the trail and the bird perches/food.

The blind itself has a wide face but is narrow. There is a large wide window on either side of the blind with nearly the same level of tilt as you find at South Llano River State Park's 4 blinds. As such, shooting from behind these windows is next to impossible.

There is a trap door in the middle of the blind. The trap door is more than big enough to get my 300mm f4 through and I have nearly full range of the blind area from this open trap door. Seating is okay, but far from comfortable from that middle spot.

Other readers have told me that it is possible to shoot from outside and I found that to be the case as well. The birds are reasonably used to the humans.

Despite the challenging conditions, I'm convinced that this could be a very productive blind to shoot from, whether it be inside the blind, out in the open, or perhaps a small pop-up outside the blind.

Perches and attractants were plentiful and generally natural. I'm looking forward to a mid-week early morning visit to the park so I can see how this blind works out. Probably towards late April or early May.

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

February 7th Blind Report - South Llano River State Park Blinds #1 (Loma) and #4 (Acorn)

I stepped completely away from taking pictures last weekend. Weather locally was too clear and I had some projects staring me directly in the face that kept me from getting in the car and traveling elsewhere. So I took the time to take care of business and put off any travel to this weekend.

So Saturday I went down to South Llano River State Park. Easy choice to make. Weather was supposed to be dicey on Sunday so I figured a road trip Saturday and then fingers crossed on a couple of hours on Sunday at San Angelo State Park. Plus, if I was going to be at South Llano River I would also make a quick scouting trip to Lost Maples SNA.

I started once again in Blind #4 (aka Acorn). Weather was considerably warmer this weekend as compared to 2 weekends ago. I was able to leave the gloves and ski-style mask in the car this time around. It was very comfortable with just a poly-pro shirt and my standard camouflage outershirt without need for a jacket. Skies however were mostly cloudy, which certainly knocked down the available light, but it diffused things nicely.

Species spread was a little smaller than last time around. No Downy Woodpecker and no Inca Dove. But pretty much everything else showed up. Goldfinches and sparrows seemed to be more numerous. Northern Cardinals were less numerous. Quite a few Pine Siskins wandering around. The Wild Turkeys which had made their visits the previous week were back again, too. All in all it was a good time.

As I started to head out of the park I decided to take advantage of the favorable sky conditions and stopped at Blind #1 (aka the Loma Blind). This blind is not nearly as cozy as Blind #4. Also, in my haste to leave the house I left my portable stool behind so it was going to be an uncomfortable photo shoot. There was a much more narrow species spread in this blind, but there were White-crowned Sparrows present here where they were not present in Blind #4. Light was good with the cloud-cover, even though it was nearly 11am.

Images:
Wild Turkey, South Llano River State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller
Bathing Female Northern Cardinal, South Llano River State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller

January 25th Blind Report: South Llano River State Park Blind #4 (Acorn)

The weather forecast was showing nothing but sunny skies in the San Angelo area. As you as a loyal reader know, clear sunny skies in the middle of winter make for lousy images at the San Angelo State Park blind. So rather than go a full weekend without any images (heaven forbid that would happen), I got a road trip pass from my significant other and headed down the road to South Llano River State Park. Darn good decision...

I arrived at the park a couple minutes after 8am, took care of the administrative issues of getting my permit as well as confirming with the park rangers that with the winter closures that I could still get to my favorite blind, Blind #4 (aka the Acorn Blind). Large portions of the park are closed to visitors this time of year to give the Wild Turkeys a chance to do that voodoo that they do so well so that their population can return to historical levels. If you're going to make a trip for the blinds, let it be known that all four blinds are open and available even with the restrictions. In the case of at least #4, access is blocked beyond that point. Blind #1 does not allow access beyond the blind and all of the area surrounding it is restricted. I would assume that #2 and #3 also have some degree of restrictions around them but I did not check them out.

I physically got into the blind at about 8:15 and let the good times roll. The blue skies are not a show stopper in this blind this early in the morning. The left side of the blind is nearly completely in play while the right side is workable, though with really slow shutter speeds.

First bird photographed: a Spotted Towhee. I'd been waiting all winter to see one in the blind at SASP so I guess it took a 90 minute drive south to South Llano to see my first of the season.

Northern Cardinals (male and female) were very much present when I first arrived along with a few different sparrows. But then things got interesting. Two dual-listers. That is, both a Life List addition (first time I'd seen the bird) as well as a Portfolio List addition (first time I'd gotten a good image of that species). First was a female Downy Woodpecker (top picture). Second is to the right of this paragraph - a Dark-eyed Junco. Honestly, I spent a long time trying to figure out what species this bird was. A Black Phoebe was my first thought, but the bill was way wrong. Another hour of looking and I finally figured it out. Twas a good feeling, but it sure made me feel dumb.

The rest of the day was a steady stream of Black-crested Titmice, sparrows of many different types, lesser goldfinches, house finches, wrens, and a chickadee or two. Oh yes, and the three or four Wild Turkeys that flew over the enclosure and landed hoping the find a morning meal.

Things picked up significantly after the volunteers came in and refilled the water feature and added some seed to the equation. And yes, the Turkeys came back and weren't all that irritated that I was there. Light started to get to bright and harsh so I packed it up around 11am.

No laundry list--still trying to identify a couple of the birds I shot. Likely another list addition or two in there. Overall 411 images shot, with about 35 that I've set aside to do a little magic to. Hoping to print 5 or 6.

The 322RC2 behaved admirably, though most of my shots were at eye level or below. I found myself taking the camera off in a couple of instances, but that's par for the course in this blind anyway. Still searching for the replacement for the 322RC2, but we'll live with this one for now.

Images:
Downy Woodpecker (Female), South Llano River State Park, ©2009 Jim Miller
Dark-eyed Junco, South Llano River 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

January 4th Blind Report - San Angelo State Park

It was awfully good to get back into the blind this morning. Last weekend was ruined by a lousy experience trying to take my Graduate Review Exam (GRE) and having their network drop 2 tests into the 4 test sequence. Very frustrating. That was followed-up with a Sunday that just didn't work the way I wanted to.

This weekend was a much better set of circumstances. I was able to get back to Abilene yesterday and take my GRE with a very positive test result (no, I'm not going to share, but let's just say I'm a very happy camper). The plan was to get out to the blind today and everything worked the way it was supposed to. Only two things were not that great. First was that it was mighty cold and mighty windy and I did not dress for the occasion. Second was that I'm still shooting without a good tripod head and my hand started to fatigue very quickly. As such I only stayed in the blind for a couple of hours, but they were very productive hours.

Lots and lots of color today. Plenty of Northern Cardinals, House Finches, and assorted sparrows. Both Golden-Fronted and Ladderbacked Woodpeckers made visits into the blind, though in both cases not for very long and not in places where I could get a good shot of them. Sparrows were running very strong with House, White-crowned, and Rufous-crowned varieties being very prevalent. Mourning and White-winged doves were present in large numbers, though White-winged were far more common. No bobwhites this morning, but looking back at the last couple of visits, they didn't usually show up until later in the morning.

No laundry list this morning. The blind was out of sheets, I didn't remember to bring a new supply, and in the big picture I don't think I could have gripped my pencil well enough to make good notes anyway.

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

August 23/24 Report: San Angelo S.P.

In between getting pictures assembled and hung at the bank and a silly thing called work, I went out to the blind on the weekend of August 23rd and August 24th.

Interesting set of days at the blind. When the light was good, I didn't have much bird action. When the light was bright and harsh, I'd have plenty of birds. An ornithological Murphy's Law situation, I'm guessing. For the two days in the blind I'm showing a hair under 450 images shot. When birds are flowing well (and the light is good), I can shoot more than that in one day.

I won't do a laundry list because honestly I cannot find my laundry list from this particular visit. Anecdotal evidence from the pictures I shot shows a large number of Northern Cardinals, White-winged and Mourning Doves, Sparrows, Curve-billed Thrashers, and Black-throated Hummingbirds. The hummingbirds were nice enough to perch themselves on the trees near the recently moved feeder, and those porvided some unique shots.

I see some pretty good shots in and amongst the ones I've highlighted in Lightroom and these are likely ones that will make their appearance at Santa's Market and the Greater San Angelo Craft Guild show in November and December respectively.

Image: House Sparrow (Male), San Angelo State Park, ©2008 Jim Miller

Initial Description(s): Abilene S.P. Blind and Cedar Gap Farm

A couple of weeks ago I had the good fortune to work a triangle day of shooting. The plan was to go up to Abilene State Park to visit the new blind that Big Country Audubon Society and Earth Share of Texas has constructed, and then go across to Cedar Gap Farm and check out that site. Rather than do the standard Initial Description post, I am going to give an abbreviated version.

Abilene State Park is located on Texas Highway 89, about half-way between US 287 and US 83/84. The nearest town is Buffalo Gap, and the park is about 20 miles from downtown Abilene.

As is the norm, the TPWD staff at Abilene S.P. were outstanding and provided very accurate directions. The blind is in the area that on the official map says "CLOSED AREA." There is a restroom near the trail head. Park there and walk down the trail. It is only a short walk from the paved road/trail head to the shelter.

I was warned by the president of Big Country Audubon that the facility is still a work in progress. She is right, but they're moving in the right direction. They are having problems with reflections off of the windows in the blind and their water feature is not getting enough juice from the solar panel to work the way that it is supposed to.

Those things aside, they've done some very good things to get the blind running. Birds are certainly coming, though at this point the variety band of species in the blind was very narrow based on the morning I visited. I counted Northern Cardinals, Black-Crested Titmice (Adults and Juveniles), Carolina Chickadees, and Hummingbirds of an unidentified species (I believe they were Black Chinned but my images did not turn out well). Add a couple of squirrels and a fox, and that was the full listed of vertebrate species.

There are ample feeding stations in the blind, both seed food and hummingbird friendly. While the water feeder may not have been working correctly, the water that was there was being consumed dutifully.

I think with the adding of some tree stumps in such a way that they're close enough to be stopping points for birds but far enough away from the feeders to deter squirrels will increase it's usefulness for photography.

The biggest detriment to photography is the way that they are trying to discourage bird collisions with the plate glass windows in the blind--strips of tape run vertically down the front of the window. It may be a good stop-gap way to protect the birds (and I'm 110% in favor of protecting the birds from human-made obstacles), but it kills all of the photographic angles from the normal sitting areas. I hope that the more permanent solution will take both the birds and photographers into account.

There is a single open window and I found it to be workable, though not ideal. The Rolling Stones were right when they said you can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.

This blind has the makings of a good blind for photography, but it's going to take some time. Based on the angle of the light, I'd say late afternoon is going to give the best photographic light. I'll try again in the spring.

I then wandered down the road to Cedar Gap Farm. Cedar Gap Farm is located off of US Highway 83/84 near Abilene. If headed towards Abilene from the south, make a right hand turn at County Road 150, and then a left hand turn onto County Road 563. Follow the signs and it will be difficult (though not impossible) to miss it.

Cedar Gap Farm is a great place for sitting in a large air conditioned room and watching birds. Huge numbers of Northern Cardinals (Adult and Juvenile), Titmice, Painted Buntings, Sparrows, and a number of other species (lost my notes from the trip). In addition to the bird watching room, there is a nature trail and a wildflower garden.

I cannot fully judge how good the photography is going to be there. I got there near high noon and did not have the patience to stick around for better light in the afternoon. But given that one of the photographer from the Abilene area that I admire greatly has done some outstanding work there, I'd say that the photographic possibilities are good. This again will likely be an early May '09 trip as by this point in the season it is likely that the prime reason for me to go up (the Painted Buntings) will have made their migration south. But I may go up just to drop a couple of dollars in the donation box and scout the light for future trips.

This is an interesting place and I had the good fortune to talk for a spell with Earlene Hutto who keeps the place going. It finished up a good morning of photography.

Both places deserve and will get a full write-up next spring.

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

Initial Description - South Llano River S.P. Blind #1

I had the good fortune to visit South Llano River State park on April 17th. First, I have to say that the folks at the park were super friendly and nice. The rangers and volunteers at the Park HQ were obviously very proud of their park and when I inquired about bird blinds the quickly whipped out a copy of the map, highlighted it, and answered my rookie questions about the park. Well done!

There are 4 bird blinds in the park. I am going to break them up into 4 blog entries. I am using the numbering pattern as if coming off of US Route 377 to Park Road 73, driving towards the Park HQ and looping around the camping area. A map to the park can be found on Texas Parks & Wildlife's website. Bird blinds are represented by the binoculars icon.

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. Inside the park, Blind #1 is located on the main entrance road and is marked with signs and has a suitably large parking area within a short walk of the blind. However, 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: The three blinds that I've been to are all basically set up the same. There are two benches which are bolted to the floor in front of large plate glass windows. On the right hand side (side closest to the entrance) there is a handicapped access spot in front of an window that can be opened. This is the primary spot to take pictures from. The downside here is that there is no chair to sit in. I strongly recommend bringing your own stool-style chair. I carry a $5 folding stool from Academy that does an awesome job.

Perches/Attractants: There are a number of perches fairly close to the window and fairly close to food sources. A large water feature is towards the back of the setup. Chicken-wire feed stations are scattered throughout--not photographically pleasing but it gets the birds in to hopefully perch where you can use them.

AM/PM: This is an afternoon blind, but in overcast light it is very workable.

Species: Based on just one visit I don't know that I can make a definite species list. There was a wide variety of sparrows and finches the morning I was there, as well as cardinals, towhees, and a couple of hummingbirds. A full species list for the park and surrounding area can be found here.

Lens Requirements: I had very good luck with a 300mm f4 IS mounted on my Canon 30D. I saw both a 400mm and 500mm used the morning I was there.

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 page from TWPD.

Image: Northern Cardinal (Male), South Llano River S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

New Feature: Texas Photo Blind Map

I have added a link to my Photo Blinds Google map. It appears that they have added some new features so I am slowly but surely adding solid hypertext links within each of the locations. On locations that I have visited, I will note the last time that I was there. If I have made a blog entry describing the area, I will note that as well.

If you know of photo blinds that I have not added (on public land or on a pay-for-use on private land), please let me know and I will consider adding it.

Image: Northern Cardinal (Female) and unidentified bird, South Llano River S.P., (c) 2008 Jim Miller

Photographer Manners

I promise I try not to get onto soap boxes too often, but recently something occurred on a visit to a State Park that really irritated me and I really need to share.

At South Llano River State Park (review pending), I was sitting in Blind #1 (my numbering) and I heard the birders talking about some guy who was "camping" in one of the other bird blinds. This sounded strange, but I didn't think much of it.

When I finally made my way to Blind #2 I saw what they were talking about. A photographer had set up a tent-style photographic blind inside the perimeter of the bird blind. This was causing reduced sight lines for the birders and the making the fence openings unusable.

Fortunately about 15 minutes after I got there a park ranger came by and scooted the "resident" out of the blind. By my best estimation, out came a pro-level Canon body with a 500mm lens attached. Meanwhile, as he removed his equipment, he managed to also damage a plant that was being protected by a chicken-wire style cage, adding to the level of disdain from both the ranger and the birders who were trying to enjoy the birds.

My point is this. As photographers we are theoretically on a level-playing field with the birders. We have no special rights. Toting around 4 digits worth of equipment does not mean we can impact the experience for others. Yes, we always want to get closer but we need to build a positive reputation with our more-established birder friends if we can hope to have our needs thought of as additional blinds get put up.

In short, play nice.

Image: Northern Cardinal (Female), 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