Pictures from my California trip have been posted in a new gallery. I've birded Southern California quite a bit in years past, and most of the areas I visited on this trip were areas I was already familiar with, but it was my first photography trip to California, so I was able to photograph quite a few species for the first time. I saw some gorgeous scenery in Anza-Borrego and Joshua Tree as well, but for some reason I wasn't in the mood to work on landscapes... too many birds to work on, I suppose.
I got back late last night from a week in Southern California, and will be posting photos soon. Before I get to those, I am posting some older photos that had not yet appeared here. 2008 was a very busy year for me, and in my struggles to keep my image posting on pace with my photography, lots of images went overlooked. I'm taking the opportunity to fix that by posting two new galleries - one with new bird photos from 2008, and one with new non-bird photos from 2008.
Images from my third annual late April trip to the Upper Texas Coast have been posted in a new gallery. I went for a full week this time, but weather wasn't as cooperative as in past trips, and I didn't fare as well as I did in 2008. Strong south winds persisted the entire week, so most migrants blew overhead and most of the mudflats (what little remains after Hurricane Ike) were underwater. It wasn't the best week to be shooting there, but there are always plenty of birds around to work with, so even though the trip wasn't as productive as last year, I certainly didn't come home empty-handed. Haven't decided yet whether I'll make the trip a fourth time next year, or branch out to somewhere new.
Images from a late spring trip to the Delaware Bay are now online.
The gallery added today covers late winter and early spring in Colorado and Northern New Mexico. Additional photos from New Mexico, Texas, Maryland, and Delaware will be posted as time permits.
Images from a long weekend trip through Colorado are now online. The first half of the trip was spent photographing Rosy-Finches and Pine Grosbeaks in the Elk Range, while the second half was devoted to looking for White-winged Crossbills on Grand Mesa. I found only a few White-wings, and they weren't particularly cooperative, but Red Crossbills were present in abundance and posed on a few occasions for my camera. Unfortunately, most of my best opportunities with Red Crossbills came when the birds were coming down from the treetops to eat grit scattered on the roadways (grit aids their digestion), putting them in danger from careless drivers. In the space of an hour I found six crossbills struck by cars along a short stretch of the road, including three struck by a single vehicle. I carried the injured birds to a snow bank, and three of the six were eventually able to fly off, but the other three never regained consciousness.
With the New Mexico gallery added today, Tringa.org is up to date again. I bet it won't last long.
The remainder of the Oregon photos, as well as a few photos from a holiday trip to Edmonton, are now posted.
I'm going a bit out of order with my updates at the moment - I have a big backlog of photos to work through from New Mexico, Oregon, and Alberta, but I enjoyed my recent Minnesota trip so much that I decided to work through those images first. Photos from this very, very cold trip to the northeastern part of the state (Saint Louis and Lake counties) are now online. I was mostly aiming for boreal finches, and was able to photograph three of the species I'd hoped for - Pine Grosbeak and Common and Hoary Redpolls. My fourth target, White-winged Crossbill, eluded my camera, but hopefully I'll get some more chances at them later this winter. Of course, given the extreme conditions (extreme even by northern Minnesota standards!), I was pretty happy just to make it through without too much frostbite. I was also happy to get to enjoy the beautiful spruce, tamarack, and birch forests, which were breathtakingly lovely in the snow. I do love the boreal forests!
Lots of new photos are on the way, but I won't have time to get them all uploaded for some time yet. I did scrape together a new gallery for the first half of my recent trip to Northwest Oregon, but the rest of the Oregon photos, along with more from New Mexico and from Alberta, will have to wait for now.