Last night I tried to better control the light from the flashes so that it didn’t illuminate the ugly bottom of the reflection table, or the big rock in the background. I wanted more bat on black. Here is the result.
Bullock’s Oriole
Bullock’s oriole hiding in the brittlebush last week.
Since we have been busy with guests, I haven’t had a chance to photograph from the blinds. Last week I had a personal day scheduled, however I had to replace the hot water heater in our RV, so this photo is from walking around the yard mid day. Hopefully I will get a better chance soon, although it is nice to be busy at the Desert Photo Retreat!
In one week earlier this month we had two new species, a black phoebe and two black vultures. I inadvertently walked up upon the vultures as they sat at the water table, wow, they are huge when up close!
Bullock’s Oriole
I have been really busy with guests camera trapping lately. However, we block today off so that I could tackle some projects, and wouldn’t you know it, two bullock’s Orioles arrived today!  Such colorful birds.  This is exciting as it not only seems early, but they have quickly discovered my hummingbird and oriole feeders – something none of them have done in past years. Â
Desert Photo Retreat 2021
While I was in Alaska last week, we filled the last couple of remaining openings in our schedule at the Desert Photo Retreat, and are now officially sold out for the remainder of Spring 2021!
I have had lots of inquiries about the night sky workshops I typically run this time of year, and we are still not offering any group activities at least until June. We hope to have lots of all activities available beginning next January (2022). I don’t know if we will open before January, but it is possible.
This is a gray fox from earlier this month. He comes by most nights, and we are beginning to see a bobcat a little more frequently. Janine watched it in the afternoon a couple of days ago.
Mexican Long-Tongued Bat
About a week ago a bat flew within inches of my face! I assumed it was catching bugs attracted to my headlamp. Fortunately, a few days before this, I had read a book about bats in which the author mentioned that bats may fly close to your head, but don’t worry, they won’t hit you. I hope he is right! Now bats in the headlight beam are almost a nightly occurrence. So, I decided to put a camera setup at my hummingbird feeders at the same time I had one at the waterhole. The bats really hits the sugar water hard!
This was with an Olympus E-M1X, the 40-150 f/2.8 lens at 55mm and f/8, bulb mode for 14.82 seconds, a Cognisys Sabre trigger, two Godox flashes at 1/32 power and Phottix Ares II flash triggers / receivers.
The first couple of nights I was using my Camtraption triggers, but for some reason, was getting slight ghosting even with a single flash. The Phottix Aries II are awesome triggers, although I don’t usually use them at night since they will turn off after 4 hours of no activity. The bats come around enough, that this isn’t a problem.
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