Birding Log – Soul Searching & other trivialities

While all my photos live over in my bird albums in Flickr, this page is to capture the quick list of species I have seen and photographed. Want to know what settings and setup I use?

Texas (my back yard) | Texas (elsewhere) | Washington (back yard and island) | Louisiana | Other Places

Texas (full album)

My Back Yard (Austin, TX) – 33 species

Blackbird (Red-winged) – Female


female	male

Cardinal (Northern)

Cedar Waxwing

Chickadee (Carolina)

Dove (Inca)

Dove (White-winged)

male

Finch (American Goldfinch)

male

male black-backed

Finch (Lesser Goldfinch)


female	male

Finch (House)

Grackle (Long-tailed)

juvenile

Hawk (Cooper’s)


Mate 1 (younger, female?)	Mate 2 (mature, male?)

Hawk (Red-shouldered)

2017 Mating Pair

Hawk (Red-tailed)

Hummingbird (Black-chinned male)

Jay (Blue)

Kinglet (Ruby-crowned)

Mockingbird (Northern)

Phoebe (Eastern)

Sparrow (Chipping)

Sparrow (House)

Sparrow (White-throated)

Swallow (Barn)

Titmouse (Black Crested)

Titmouse (Tufted/Black Crested Hybrid)

Vulture (Black)

Vulture (Turkey)

Warbler (Orange-crowned)

Warbler (Yellow-Rumped)

Woodpecker (Downy)

Woodpecker (Golden-fronted) – Female

male

female

Woodpecker (Ladder-backed)

Woodpecker (Red-bellied)

Wren (Carolina)

Elsewhere in Texas

These are birds I saw in Texas while we were out and about that aren’t accounted for in the back yard section above. (16 species)

	Blackbird (Red-winged) Pace Bend State Park on Lake Travis
	Duck (Gadwall hens) Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory, North Entrance, Austin, TX
	Eagle (Bald) Lake Bastrop North to South Shore Trail
	Egret (Snowy-Juvenile) Lake Austin Trail
	Flycatcher (Vermilion) Pace Bend State Park on Lake Travis
	Gnatcatcher (Blue-gray) Commons Ford Park, Austin, TX
	Heron (Great Blue) Pace Bend State Park on Lake Travis
	Killdeer Pace Bend State Park on Lake Travis
	Meadowlark (Eastern) Pace Bend State Park on Lake Travis
	Osprey Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory, North Entrance, Austin, TX
	Owl (Barn) Leigh’s Land, West of Ft. Worth, TX
	Owl (Eastern Screech-) Andre & Leigh’s back yard, Austin, TX
	Phoebe (Eastern) Commons Ford Park, Austin, TX
	Raven (Common) Pace Bend State Park on Lake Travis
	Sapsucker (Yellow-bellied) Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory, North Entrance, Austin, TX
	Sparrow (House-Female) Town Lake Animal Center
	Swan (Mute) Lake Austin Trail
	Vireo (White-eyed) Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory, North Entrance, Austin, TX
	Warbler (Pine) Lake Bastrop North to South Shore Trail

Washington

My Back Yard & Anderson Island

Cardinal (Northern)
Cormorant (Double-crested)
Creeper (Brown)
Crossbill (Red)
Crow (American)
Eagle (Bald)
Finch (Gold)
Flicker (Northern)
Guillemot (Pigeon)
Gull (Laughing)
Gull(WhoKnows)
Hawk (Sharp-shinned)
Heron (Great Blue)
Hummingbird (Rufous)
Junco (Dark-eyed Oregon)
Kingfisher (Belted)
Mersanger (Common)
Loon (Common)
Raven (Common)
Robin (American)
Sanderlings
Sapsucker (Red-breasted)
Scoter (Surf)
Sparrow (Fox)
Sparrow (Golden-crowned)
Sparrow (Song)
Sparrow (White-crowned)
Swallow (Barn)
Towhee (Spotted)
Waxwing (Cedar)
Wren (Pacific)
Woodpecker (Pileated)

Elsewhere

Louisiana (mostly New Orleans Area)

I’m listing all the birds sighted, but only sharing images of unique sightings or particularly cool photos 🙂

	Anhinga female
	Blackbird (Red-winged)
	Cardinal (Northern)
	Cormorant (Double-crested)
	Crow (American)
	Eagle (Bald)
	Egret (Cattle)
	Egret (Snowy)
	Gull (Laughing)
	Hawk (Red-shouldered)
	Hawk (Red-tailed)
	Heron (Great Blue)
	Ibis (White)
	Jay (Blue)
	Kinglet (Ruby-crowned)
	Kite (Swallow-tailed)
	Osprey
	Pelican (American White)
	Phoebe (Eastern)
	Robin (American)
	Sandpiper (Spotted)
	Sapsucker (Yellow-bellied)
	Sparrow (Savannah)
	Vireo (Blue-headed)
	Vulture (Black)
	Vulture (Turkey)
	Warbler (Yellow-rumped)
	Waxwing (Cedar)
	Woodpecker (Downy)
	Woodpecker (Red-bellied)

Other – Utah, etc

Condor (California)

Marble Canyon, AZ – This is condor #722, a 3 year old female that was one of the first 4 chicks to hatch in the wild in AZ.

Coot (American)

Virgin River Trails, City of St. George, UT

Dove (Eurasian Collared)

Back yard in St. George, UT

Dove (Mourning)

Back yard in St. George, UT

Hummingbird (Black-chinned)

Virgin River Trails, City of St. George, UT

	female
	male

Hummingbird (Costa’s)

Back yard, St. George, UT

Jay (Western Scrub)

Zion National Park, UT

Pelican (American White)

Great Salt Lake, UT

Phoebe (Say’s)

Back yard in St. George, UT

	female
	male

Quail (Gambel’s)

Virgin River Trails, City of St. George, UT

Roadrunner (Greater)

Back yard in St. George, UT

Starling (European)

Newport, OR

Towhee (Spotted)

Zion National Park, UT

Verdin

Virgin River Trails, City of St. George, UT

Warbler (Lucy’s)

Virgin River Trails, City of St. George, UT

Wren (Canyon)

Malad Gorge State Park, Idaho

Wren (Rock)

Virgin River Trails, City of St. George, UT

Here's what I shoot with:

CAMERA SETTINGS
The settings to get a good bird shot are pretty specific - you want a high shutterspeed, a mid-range aperture so that the whole bird is in focus, and an ISO that isn't too grainy. That's actually hard with all auto settings. So the most common settings I use are to set my aperture to f8 and my ISO to Auto, then adjust my shutterspeed to work with the amount of light or motion I have - 1/500 - 1/800 for stationary birds and 1/1600 or higher for birds in flight.

Additionally, I use a high burst mode for the trigger, which means I can hold down the button and the camera just keeps taking photos (mine will do 10 frames/sec), and I use a focus setting of AI Servo, which means that the focus is constantly updating as I move the camera around, rather than staying locked.

EQUIPMENT
These shots are done with a Canon 1D Mark IV body, which is a pro-line body. The biggest advantages it has for wildlife is the high burst mode (10 frames/sec, most lower DSLRs have 6 frames/sec) and a high number of focus points to help the lens snap into focus faster. My Canon 60D, which is a really nice mid-level body is still very good for wildlife shots.

Then there is the lens - I'm using a Tamron 150-600mm lens, which lets me get very good close shots. Many folks get good bird shots with a lower zoom lens, like a 70-300, but the extra 300mm really gives me lots of reach to capture birds that are farther away. Prior to a couple of years ago, 600mm was so expensive that only pro's bought them. Then Tamron and Sigma came out with these 150-600 zoom lenses. The quality isn't as high, but the price range makes it more accessible to non-pro's and the quality is pretty darn good. It's still an expensive lens, but it was worth every penny for the number of hours i've gotten out of it.