Filling in Most of the Blanks

Welcome to blog entry 100.  I'm happy that you're still with me on the journey.  I'm sure we'll be around for at least 100 more...

I'm down to just the Cozad Ranch when it comes to missing information.  Fennessey Ranch no longer offers daily rentals of their blinds.  They have moved instead to a membership program which gives unlimited access to the blinds and the rest of their ranch for a specific fee for a timeframe that encompasses early spring to about the start of hunting season.  I'm marking it on the blind map in the most expensive category based on the fact that very few of us have the chance to shoot more than 3-4 days a year and that best reflects their fee structure.  Of course, if you're retired and having nothing else to do (and are close to the property), then this is a bargain.  I do encourage you to visit their site and inquire about the details.  It might very well work for you and how you shoot.  It doesn't work for me.

I will try to readdress with Cozad Ranch in the next day or two to finally clean off all of the unknowns on the map.

I was successful in finding my way to South Llano River SP on Sunday and I will have my thoughts on that visit in the next day or so.

Edited at 8:19pm adding that the fee at Fennessey Ranch also covers the rest of the ranch.  Again, contact them for more details.

Spring 2012 Workshops in the Blinds...

In the process of doing my updates for the maps I learned of some shooting opportunities that will be of interest to this community.  Up at Block Creek Natural Area, David Cardinal will be holding a workshop April 18-23.  He had a very successful workshop there this past spring and I'm happy to see that he is coming back.  Pricing and additional info about this Hill Country workshop can be found at his website.

As he did last year, he will then move his show down the road to south Texas with a workshop April 24-30 at Dos Venadas, Santa Clara, and Campos Viejos ranches.  This one sold out early and apparently a good time was had by all because this too is down to just two openings left.  Pricing and additional information can be found again at his website.  And yes, for the sharp-eyed among you (which should be all of you... we are photographers, right?), I do not have a link to Campos Viejos.  That will be a project for this week to search out.

On May 11-13, Larry Ditto returns to Block Creek Natural Area to do another workshop.  Larry is one of the best in the business and it is great to see him back at Block Creek.  His cost is extremely reasonable and it looks he will be bringing in some raptors during the visit.  More details can be found on his website (note, I'm taking you in through his General Tour Info page.  You can then move to this opportunity which is on the following page).

There are also a pair of Images for Conservation Fund (ICF) Pro-Am tour dates in May 2012 with Los Madrones Ranch and Block Creek Natural Area hosting events on May 3-7 and Tacubaya Ranch and Dos Venadas hosting events May 17-21.  More information about the Pro-Am can be found at ICF's site.

Undoubtedly there are other opportunities out there and I will keep an eye out.  Some of the usual suspects have not posted any spring dates for shooting in the Hill Country or in the Rio Grande Valley.  I will keep an ear out.

One last note, I've made a couple of additions on the Blind Map.  Red Creek Nature Ranch got back with me on Friday afternoon and I've posted that update.  I'm still waiting word from Cozad Ranch and Fennessey Ranch and I will re-ping them on Monday if I haven't heard from them.  They are two of the originals and I'd love to get some updated information from them.

By the time this publishes Sunday morning I will be on the road to make some images.  Honestly I don't know where that will be until I wake up in the morning.  It will depend solely on how my recently surgically repaired foot is feeling in the morning and how far I will want to walk from the car to park my carcass somewhere in a blind.  But regardless, I am getting my face behind a camera.  I hope you'll have that opportunity, too.

Image:
White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica), San Angelo SP, San Angelo, Texas, © jmillerphoto.com

Bird Blind Map Updated

I had forgotten what kind of a task it was to do a full update on the bird blind map (http://g.co/maps/sp5wf), but is about 95% done.  Many thanks to Doug Campbell for filling in some of the blanks.

I have made some minor changes to the way the properties are now displayed.  Those properties with the Google place mark with the spot in the middle of them are properties I am still awaiting word on.  As of right now that encompasses just four properties:  Cozad Ranch, Fennessey Ranch, LaCopita Ranch, and Red Creek Nature Ranch.

Those properties withe Google place mark minus the spot are properties that I have reviewed and/or received additional and confirming information on.  That encompasses most of the properties.

The color of the markers have meaning.
- Purple means a blind on public lands
- Light blue means a property that the fee for the day is under $125 per photographer
- Green means a property that the fee is $125-$175 for the day per photographer
- Magenta means a property that the fee is over $175 for the day per photographer
- Blue means that it is a non-traditional blind--more about that later
- Red triangle with the ! mark means that this property is no longer available

Fee per photographer includes the fee for a guide if the property requires you to hire one of their guides.

Two new properties were added to the list:  Laguna Seca ranch and Santa Clara Ranch.  One, Weaver Cattle Ranch, was moved to the no longer available list, joining the Petersen Ranch.  For what it is worth, both of Petersen and Weaver still have active websites.  That forced me to go back and check all of the remaining sites and make positive contact (directly or indirectly) with the property owners.

Non-traditional blinds are blinds that are not structures.  This is not a place where one would sit to take pictures.  Rather it would be some place where you would stand and have  

The update is not done yet, though.  I need to link previous blog entries to the sites.  I also have a spreadsheet that is still full of holes that I may make available as well at some point as a Google Doc.

So for now go at it.  Tell me if it is helpful.  Tell me if I got it wrong.  Tell me if you've visited one of these places.

Status Report

I am still working hard to catch up here.  My surgery last week was, by all indications, successful.  So this week, while dodging pain killers I am trying to take care of some research and maintenance tasks.

With any luck I will have a full refresh on the Google Map.  I am including with each of the entries a last verified date to give a better idea of how fresh the information is.  If I've done a blog entry, I will put that in the notes as well.  I'm hoping to have that done before the end of the holiday weekend.

If I can drag my carcass out of the house during the weekend I'm hoping to get to one of the local public blinds.  I'm not sure which one--that will really depend on how far I feel like I am capable of driving.  But one way or another I really need to get out.  I've been cooped up in this house for far too long.

Did I miss a blind that you are aware of?  Do you own a ranch (listed or not on my map) with a blind and want to share why you think it is a great place to make images?  Please e-mail me.

Initial Report - Pedernales Falls State Park Blind #2 - October

Northern Mockingbird - © jmillerphoto.com

This is a follow-up blog post to one I made over at Jim's Assorted, Usually Photographic, Ramblings.  As I blogged over there, about a week ago I made my first return to a blind since returning to Texas.  It was also the first time I've been in a blind since Christmas.  It was awful good to be back.

I visited the new bird blind at Pedernales Falls State Park.  Okay, it isn't that new any more but it is new to me. The second blind was put up while I was away on exile in Ohio. 

And okay, technically I did visit both blinds.  They are right next to each other, but the potential for photography is like night and day.  The older blind continues to be a photographic challenge--the lighting is very poor for photography.  I'm sure that with the right equipment (a bigger lens than I carry and a Better Beamer) that really nice images could be made from that blind.  But with what I have it is a non-starter.

However, the new blind is outstanding.  The lighting is very good to almost too much.  The blind is very intimate with the front of the blind being very close to the water feature and the back vegetation that frames the inside of the blind.

For as good as things are for light, this blind seems to line up with the newer blinds that TPWD and their supporting "Friends of" groups have done.  Lots of tilted glass and very small lens openings for photographers.  But at that I will say that the glass is very clear and I had zero issues getting focus and clarity through the glass in the blind.  It may be age of the glass.  It may be the way it has been kept up.  Heck, it may be the angle of the glass.  But I found it very easy to shoot in this blind.

Also of importance to us as photographers was the ability to get our tripod where it needs to be.  No problems here.  There were two rows of benches, but they were very movable and I found it very comfortable to shoot from the position present.  I might have preferred something slightly higher in terms of seating, but everybody is built different and it worked for the purpose at hand.

 Western Scrub-Jay - © jmillerphoto.com

 

What I also found effective about this particular blind was the positioning of the perching and landing materials.  Everything looked very natural and there were plenty of items to land on.  Two large twisted pieces of wood (probably mesquite) that sat up very nicely as perches with multiple levels on either side of the blind provided awesome landing spots.  Plus in those perches were places to put peanut butter which did a great job of attracting birds that may not have been as receptive to seeds but loved the semi-solid protein.

There were additional natural landing spots within the blind to include other pieces of wood, rocks, and a very natural looking water feature.

Species spread was pretty darn good for mid-October before the Winter visitors made it in.  Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, Lesser Goldfinch, Clay-colored and House Sparrows, Western Scrub-Jay, Black-crested Titmouse, Mourning and White-winged Doves, House Finches, Carolina Chickadees, and a Ladder-backed Woodpecker were species that I identified while I was in the blind.  Add to that a Gray Fox wandering in a couple of times and a pair of Southern Leopard Frogs hanging out in the water feature waiting for unsuspecting dragonflies and it put together a really fun morning of shooting.

Speaking only for October visits, I'd say earlier is better than later and a little bit of overcast might help diffuse the sunlight some.  This blind appears to work for both morning and afternoon, but I'll have to be there for an afternoon to confirm that.  Maybe while I'm waiting for the body to heal up after surgery.

In short, this blind has my seal of approval.  Comfortable, well-lit, well-perched, and really all in all a great shooting experience.  It reminded me how much I love shooting in blinds and how much I can't wait to do it again soon.

About the images:
Both shots were from my morning in the blind, though chronologically they may be backwards.  The Northern Mockingbird was a bit of surprise.  Not that it was in that neck of the woods, but that it was spending time in the blind.  They're a more moving food source type of bird, but this one stayed for a while.  Truth be told, I did have to do some dodging on the rock because it was really, really, REALLY bright on the original.  The Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica) was a life list add for me (#116... Yes, Bob, I'm still catching up :] ).  Beautiful bird and allegedly it is rare in the blind to have more than one at a time.

And we're back...

Sorry y'all.  I have neglected this blog over the last few months.  What I thought was going to be a fairly straight forward process of coming home and setting up life again took much longer than expected.

It isn't that I have stayed away from photography.  But the shooting has been very close to home or the work that I was able to do when I was up in Ohio.  I underestimated the chaos that would be moving back home and starting up with a new job.

The good news is that I have started to ease back into photo blind shooting and reporting and will have a blog entry up in the next few days on a new blind.  I will unfortunately be undergoing some surgery in the next couple of weeks that will once again slow me down, but will give me a chance to get things like the blind map up to date and ready for the summer.

The other good news is that I have also found the life/work/photography balance that will probably work as this year starts to wind down and 2012 starts to spin up.

So I ask a little bit of patience as I get things moving again on this front and find that balance.  Stay tuned.

What's that? A Light? At the end of the tunnel?

This blog has been silent for a while.  Okay, anybody looking at the last date that this thing was published could have said that.  School has been busy.  As John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans."

I have done very little work inside blinds in the time since my last blog entry.  Over the Christmas holidays I spent a little bit of time inside the blind at San Angelo State Park.  This was mostly to test out a new tripod and remind myself what it was like to make images again.  It had been three months since I had made a single exposure.

As it turned out, my best image that trip was outside of the blind and without the benefit of my tripod.  But hey, things happen.

I missed the opportunity to shoot in the blinds around the Dayton area.  School made it too difficult to get out of the house.  I did not shoot another image outdoors until last weekend.

Okay, what is on the agenda?  I head back to Texas for good in June, but I expect that most of that month will be occupied with moving, unpacking, and getting settled in.  I'm hoping for a trip out to South Llano River SP in July, but we'll see what is on my agenda in the new job.  A good portion of August will have me on the road again, but by September I will be back in Texas and with hopefully cooler temperatures and to reassess what my fall will look like.

Other news of note.  Kathy Adams Clark will be doing a workshop at Block Creek Natural Area April 29th-May 1st.  The good folks at Block Creek promised to provide more details soon so head over there for more info.

Nosajio, the author of the White Noise blog, has had very kind words to say about the new blind at Pedernales Falls SP.  Bill Yeates had kind words to say about a blind that I thought was pretty bad at the time in Fredericksburg.  He reported great quantities of birds in the blind and reasonable light.  I also stumbled upon talk of some blinds either up or going up in Midland.  More to come on that as I get additional information.  Sadly nothing new about the proposed new blind at San Angelo SP.  I'm afraid that one has run out of steam.

I also found a phone message on Google Voice from back in December that I need to follow-up on and perhaps something good will come of that as well.

Expect over the next couple of months a couple of notes here and there as I start to blend back into the Texas woodwork.  Happy shooting to all of you.

Image:  Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii), San Angelo SP, San Angelo, Texas © Jim Miller - jmillerphoto.com