Bosque Day 2

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What a fun day at Bosque del Apache NWR! I was a little lazy and didn’t get up for the predawn blastoff. I did head out shortly after sunrise for a morning shoot, not expecting to get much. I was pleasantly surprised to discover I had a few keepers when I edited the morning shoot after breakfast.

It was COLD here this morning. Only got down to 30, but the wind was BRISK and I was bundled up.

After editing the morning shoot, I went to the Owl Bar and Restaurant for the traditional Green Chile Cheeseburger!

When I went out for my afternoon shoot at the refuge, I spotted someone I knew. Walt Anderson - the creator of the Better Beamer (my photographer friends will know what that is) - was standing next to the pond where I parked and got out to set up. It was ironic because I was disappointed I didn’t have my Better Beamer with me last night for those silhouette shots after the sun went down.

Basically the Better Beamer is a flash extender. Walt created a neat device that holds a Fresnel lens in front of your flash. It concentrates the beam of light and throws it out far enough to add some catch light when using a long telephoto lens.

It was too early to be using the Better Beamer where I was photographing the Snow Geese, but I attached it to my Wimberley tripod head when I got to the pond for the Sandhill Crane fly in.

I’m really excited that I’m finally taking the time to aggressively hit the delete button for a majority of the images I capture. I got to talking with a guy from Albuquerque who was next to me at the Snow Geese pond and he commented on my motor drive sounding like a gun firing! He ended up at the 2nd location and I loaned him my 2x teleconvertor. I was using my 1.4 with the 500 mm lens. At any rate we talked about editing and deleting images. This is really the first time I’ve taken the time to delete images I know I’ll never use. For example I deleted 75% of the images I shot this afternoon before I even began to edit a few for the blog. I’m sure I should delete more, but for me that’s a giant step forward in the digital photography workflow. Of course the down side is I’ve spent as much time in front of the computer today as I was out shooting.

It was amazing how chilly it got when the sun went down behind the mountain to the west of Bosque. If felt like the temperature dropped 10 degrees within minutes - even before official sunset. Tonight is going to be another cold one. It’s supposed to warm up as the week unfolds so I may not head out before sunrise again on Sunday. I’ll have several days to get up really early and try to capture some of the spectacular morning blast offs.

The weekly bird count reported there are 4,000 Sandhill Cranes, 20,000 Snow Geese, and 23,000 ducks. I don’t remember how many were here last year, but there seem to be fewer birds here than last year. I’ve heard several other people say the same thing.

I hope you enjoy some of the images I was able to capture today. The beauty of this place is difficult to put into a two dimensional photo, but I’m sure having fun trying!

Thanks for checking in.

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Photos

Snow Goose
Here's a Snow Goose coming in for a landing in a field to have breakfast.

Banded Snow Goose
If you look carefully you should be able to see a yellow band around the neck of this Snow Goose. I don't know how many they have tagged, but I may see if I can find out some details from some of the staff at the visitor's center.

deer
I drove around the upper loop of the refuge this morning. After photographing geese and cranes flying into the fields to feed, I spotted this deer just off the road and ahead of me. I pulled over and used my Artie Morris BLUBB to cradle my big telephoto lens on top of the car door. The BLUBB is a great bag you fill with beans and can put it over a window, on top of a door like I did, or on top of the car like I did in another photo you will see.

Snow Goose bathing
I was really pleased with this image. This is the reason my camera (and most of those around me here at Bosque) sound like an automatic rifle firing. I don't know how many shots I took of this goose to get the one I really like.

Hawk
While driving between the pond inside the loop road to another pond on the north side of the refuge, I spotted a hawk in a tree. Even with my long lens and teleconverter I was still not too close. But I pulled over, grabbed my BLUBB, put it on top of the car, laid my camera on it, and fired off a series as the hawk flew away.

Sandhill Cranes landing
Several hundred Sandhill Cranes flew into this pond tonight as they returned from the fields and feeding during the day. I think as many arrived after sunset as did before the sun went down.

Gear Down
I love the way they drop their legs just before they land and then glide down like they popped open a parachute. Words can't adequately describe the wonder of these birds.

Alpen Glow
Official sunset was right about the time this image was captured. This is one of the images where I used my Better Beamer. Technical data 1/200th, f/5.6, ISO 800, and fill flash with the Better Beamer.

Pan Blur
Once the sunset, I decided to experiment with a slow shutter speed and panning. This was ISO 800, f/16, 1/13th sec with Better Beamer fill flash. I've never been very successful trying this technique, but I think I got a few images that I like tonight.

Another Pan
This one did not have the fill flash.

Last shot of the evening
Here was one of my last images of the evening. This was taken some 20 minutes after sunset (and 30 minutes after the sun dropped behind the mountain). 1/20th, f/5.6, ISO 800 and Better Beamer fill flash.