This Makes a Great Day of Wildlife Photography!

…..for me.

What makes “Great” day in your wildlife photography?  Do tell me.

I really enjoy photographing wildlife.  Moving to Nikon cameras from my old Hasselblad “V” System camera enabled me to get some long glass.  I started with the Nikkor 200.0-400.0mm f/4 lens primarily for birds and warbirds (i.e. anything that flies!), largely inspired by Moose Peterson.

It is nearly 5 years since I acquired the 600.0mm f/4 lens and since then it has been my most used lens of any.  Very much shooting wildlife and predominantly birds.

A good day is being able to do good work with the available species.  A Great day is capturing a new species.  Unlike “birders” who must see the bird through their bins or scope (and I believe a bird can be added to the list by recognizing its call) I need to get a good photograph that is tack sharp in order to add the species to my list.

So far this year I have photographed 24 new species for my list.  Here are images of some of those birds and a full list at the end.  Admittedly I have been in new areas of this continent – South Texas, South Arizona and mid Arizona, but I hope I keep having these great days.

The images of the full list of “New Birds” together with the other non-new birds can be found on www.mothernatureimages.com on March’s New Images and April’s New Images

To acquire any of these images, click on the image, Add to Cart …..

Full List of New Birds

Altimera Oriole (Icterus gularis)

Annas Hummingbird (calypte anna)

Bendire’s Thrasher (Toxostoma bendirei)

Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Black-chinned Sparrow (Spizella atrogularis)

Bridled Titmouse (Baeolophus wollweberi)

Canyon Towhee (Melozone fusca)

Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)

Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana)

Common Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis)

Curve-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre)

Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)

Forsters Tern (Sterna forsteri)

Gambles Quail (Callipepla gambelii)

Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis)

Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons)

Gray Flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii)

Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)

Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas)

Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus)

Horned Lark (Eromophilia alpestris)

Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris)

Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus)

Long-billed Thrasher (Toxostome longirostre)

Mexican Jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi)

Orange-crowned Warbler (Oreothlypis calata)

Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens)

Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula)

Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus)

Rufus-winged Sparrow (Peucaea carpalis)

Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus)

Say’s Phoebe (Sayornis saya)

Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana)

Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps)

Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata)

Locations

Chiricahua National Monument, AZ

Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Reserve, TX

Lake Patagonia State Park, AZ

Little Black Mountain Petroglyph Site, AZ

Mono Lake, CA

Montezuma Castle National Monument, AZ

Santa Ana NWR, TX

South Padre Island, TX

Tombstone Area, AZ

Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area, AZ

Gear:

Nikon D4S, GP-1, Nikkor 600.0mm f/4 VRII, Nikkor TC-17 EII, Nikkor 80.0-400.0mm f/4.5-5.6 VR III, Nikkor TC-14 EII, RRS TVC-34L Tripod, RRS Full Gimbal Head, Lexar Digital Film

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 15th, 2018 at 4:07 pm. It is filed under Birds, Wildlife and tagged with Altimera Oriole (Icterus gularis), Annas Hummingbird (calypte anna), Bendire's Thrasher (Toxostoma bendirei), Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii), Black-chinned Sparrow (Spizella atrogularis), Bridled Titmouse (Baeolophus wollweberi), Canyon Towhee (Melozone fusca), Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), Chiricahua National Monument AZ, Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), Common Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis), Curve-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre), Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis), Forsters Tern (Sterna forsteri), Gambles Quail (Callipepla gambelii), Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis), Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons), GP-1, Gray Flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii), Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus), Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas), Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus), Horned Lark (Eromophilia alpestris), Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris), Laguna Madre Bay TX, Lake Patagonia State Park AZ, Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus), Lexar Digital Film, Little Black Mountain Petroglyph Site AZ, Long-billed Thrasher (Toxostome longirostre), Mexican Jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi), Mono Lake CA, Montezuma Castle National Monument AZ, Nikon 600.0mm f/4 VRII, Nikon Camera Systems, Nikon D4S, Nikon TC-17 EII, Orange-crowned Warbler (Oreothlypis calata), Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens), Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula) TX, Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus), Richard King Photography, RRS Full Gimbal Head, RRS TVC-34L Tripod, Rufus-winged Sparrow (Peucaea carpalis), Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus), Santa Ana NWR TX, Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya), South Padre Island TX, Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana), Tombstone Area AZ, Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area AZ, Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps), www.mothernatureimages.com, www.richardkingphoto.com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.