Doves and Jays

(December 1st) As expected, today was another day of heavy rain and most trails were flooded. I had a different plan of attack today - instead of searching for each bird individually on a day when they wouldn't be very active or visible, I would let them come to me. I worked the day out of a photo blind that was set up in Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. While I didn't see as many species as I would by hiking all the trails, I was able to control the circumstances more and get better interactions with the birds I did see. One of the first I did see was this White-tipped Dove.

Perhaps the worst thing about the heavy rain was the amount of cloud cover it brought with it. Clouds themselves are fine, but it cut the light levels low, extremely low. With the blind being in a relatively shaded spot and the reduced light, I was shooting with the lens wide open, fill flash, and ISO up to a nearly unheard of 800. Even still, I was only getting shutter speeds of around 1/45th or 1/60th of a second. I needed to rely on my best long lens technique to get sharp images at that speed. Fortunately my technique has improved and I was able to get some images of one of the most colorful Texas birds, the Green Jay.

I had of the Whte-tipped Doves come in to visit throughout the day. On cloudy days like this, the birds will be more active in the middle of the day when normally wildlife shuts down. The doves usually came in small groups of 3-5. This dove can only be found in the US in southern Texas, so it was great to see so many individuals.

Jays are really fun birds to watch. They are loud, noisy, sometimes aggressive and comical. They're never still, but are always up to something. Green Jays also tend to travel in flocks so most of the time you several at once. I always have great fun watching these birds. While it wasn't the best of days, the change in tactics let me make a few images today.