Made my first trip to South Texas a couple of weeks ago for some very cool bird photography at Laguna Seca ranch, near Edinburg TX, about 40 miles from Mexico. Thanks again Beth for the invitation. Laguna Seca is set up with several blinds for morning and afternoon photography. My first experience at shooting from a blind, but it won’t be my last as I’ll be heading back there again next year. Our guide, Ruth Hoyt, did an excellent job and I would highly recommend her. It was a slow time of year for Raptors but we did get did get to see several species of birds along with a few ground squirrels that put on quite a show.
We got lucky that the rain held off for the most part but it was cloudy both mornings, which made for some low light conditions. Had to break out the flash/better beamer, which I haven’t used for over a year.
When I told Ruth that my goal was to get some Green Jay photos, she said that wouldn’t be a problem as they were abundant. They showed up at each of the blinds so I was a happy camper.
http://www.lagunasecaranch.com/
Taken with Canon 1DX and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II gimbal head
1/800 sec @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation
1/250 sec @ F7.1, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation, fill flash with Better Beamer (-3 stops)
1/1000 sec @ F10, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation
