American Goldfinch

Here is another photo from my " Backyard Bird Series " I have decided to start. This one of a American Goldfinch. I now have up to 10 goldfinches at my feeders every morning and the numbers are slowly growing week by week. I wish for a better background here, I actually have a great setup for them, but they have not used it yet. I have a new setup for the Junco's as well and they have used it, but the weather has not cooperated, hopefully I will get a chance when the sun supposedly will re-appear on Saturday. Hope you like this one!


Image Data:
1/1600s. | f/8 | ISO 250
Click image for larger size!

Dark - Eyed Junco

Here is a image taken this morning in my backyard. I have anywhere from 5 to 10 Dark-Eyed Juncos in my backyard every morning. I have been trying to find good perches and ways to get them on the perches for a couple of weeks now and have finally succeeded. While I am still looking for better perches I am glad that they are at least using the ones I have up! This was taken in the shade, so I added some fill flash to try and bring out some detail. I am hoping to get some sunlight for the next ones tomorrow. So, I hope you like it.

Image Data:
1/100s. | f/8 | ISO 200| Fill Flash
Click image to see larger size.

Rock on Beach - Acadia National Park, Maine

Here is an image taken back in October from my trip to Acadia National Park in Maine. This one was taken at Sand Beach. I am not sure if many will like it so I would love to hear your thoughts. I like it, but would like it even more, I think, if I had placed the rock more in the lower right corner. I converted it to B&W since the color version was boring. I made it out to the Fort Worth Nature Center on Monday to see what was around. I saw a lot of Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, some Goldfinches and I spent about an hour with some Cedar Waxwings waiting for them to perch in a good spot where I could get a clear photo of them, but did not have any luck. I saw very few ducks due to the lake still being frozen over from the arctic blast we had last week. The only species I saw were some Northern Shoveler's and I think some Pintail that were flying overhead. The weather is warmer and all ice has melted, so I am hoping to get back out there on Monday and see if I can find the Bobcat.
Anyway, I hope you like this image.

Image Data: 1/8's | f/22 | ISO 125
EF-S 17-55mm

I am a winner!

Hello Everyone, I am very proud to announce that my photo of a Least Sandpiper has been selected as the Youth winner in the first ever Audubon Magazine Photography Competition!
I entered the competition never thinking I would get to the finals let alone win. You have most likely seen the photo since I have posted it here more than once. But if you haven't, then you can view it here. I hope that everyone has a very Happy New Year!

White Christmas

Hello Everyone,
I hope everyone had a great Christmas, I certainly did. What made this Christmas a very unique and special one is the fact that for the first time in my life I experienced a White Christmas! A blizzard in fact. I have lived in North Texas my whole life ( just 17 years, but still this was big ) and never before had I seen snow, much less inches of the stuff on this Holiday. I have seen it on Valentines Day and other times in between December and April but never on Christmas. It started on Christmas Eve and snowed non stop all day. There are still patches and a few small drifts left over which is also amazing since snow around here never lasts more than 24 hours and it has been 4 days since it began! There is talk of more snow on Tuesday, but I know it will be nothing like the previous event. Anyway, I took this image from the car at the park near my house. I did not really get to spend much time on this shot, but I was really pleased in the way it turned out when I loaded it onto the computer. I converted it to B&W and like the result, but would love to hear your opinions. Hope you like it!

Image Data:
1/100s. | f/11 | ISO 200
17-55mm @ 55mm
Click image for larger size.

White Tail Buck

Here is another image taken at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge last week. This one of a White Tail Deer. We were driving out of the refuge when this big fella started walking across the road about 50 yards in front of us. We slowly approached him as he took refuge in the high grasses along the side of the road. I took several shots from the car and this was probably the best. As we were stopped he decided to cross again to the other side in front of the car and joined a doe waiting in some brush for him. Something was playing tricks on my camera and I was getting some weird readings hince the odd exposure specs. Anyway, I hope you like it!

Image Data: 1/125s. | f/8 | ISO 320
Click image to see larger size.

American Bison

I finally made it out for some shooting today at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge with my mom. The refuge is about 15 minutes from my house. The weather was very chilly and got cloudy when I arrived, so not much was photographed, go figure. There was a lot of activity and most birds were fairly easy to get close to. I cannot wait to get back out there on a sunny day, hopefully Monday. As we were driving out past the Bison range the sun peeked out between some clouds for all of one minute, enough for me to get a few snaps of this Bison. I like the light here with the dark clouds in the background. Only nit for me were the stems of grass in his face, I have got to look for these things when composing the image! I hope you like it anyway.

Data: 1/200s. | f/8 | ISO 200 | Full Frame
Click image for larger size!