Back in the southwest: Short-tailed Hawk & Saguaro

I'm back in the south and enjoying fantastically warm weather. I don't miss the snow and cold of Ontario at all! Today I joined up with some bird photographer friends and we spent the day chasing birds around Tucson. In the afternoon we photographed a very rare species for the southwest.... a Short-tailed Hawk. This particularly interesting individual has tan coloration.

Let me tell you a quick story about my relationship with Short-tailed Hawks. About 15 years when I had just finished university, I took my first big birding/photography road trip from Ontario down to Florida and across to Texas and Arizona. Prior to the departing I had decided that I would get a tattoo of my 500th life bird species, which I would inevitably see during the trip. This occurred in Florida and it was a close call between Red-whiskered Bulbul (an exotic songbird) and Short-tailed Hawk. Thankfully a careful recount confirmed it was the hawk, lest I would be stuck today with a wimpy Bulbul tatooed on my arm.

By the way, I bought a 50D body last week for backup and this is the first photo I've posted with it. Will share more thoughts about this camera soon after I've had a chance to put it thought the paces.

Photo 1: Short-tailed Hawk, Tucson
50D + 500/4IS; handheld; manual exposure

For those of you who are tired of seeing bird photos on this blog, here's a cactusscape that I shot tonight on the way to the campground. I love Saguaros - they're my favorite plant.

Photo 2: Saguaro Cactus, Tucson
EOS 1DsIII; 14-40 lens

Happy New Years!

Hola 2009!
What a great start to the year! I spent the morning photographing ducks in flight and finally nailed American Wigeon and Canvasback. During mid-day, I lounged next to the pool drifting in and out of a nap with some classic U2 cranked on my iPod. For evening light, my Mom and I went to shoot landscapes at Sabino Canyon - a scenic park in northeast Tucson. When we arrived back home, my stepdad had BBQ hamburgers ready. Life is good!

Photo 1: American Wigeon in flight
500IS + 1.4x TC; 1/1000s @ f/7.1 (manual exposure)


Photo 2: Saguaro Cacti
17-70mm; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; 1/15s @ f/22


Photo 3: Sabino Creek (flowing well due to rain a few days ago)
17-70mm; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; o.8s @ f/22


Photo 4: Saguaro Cactus reaching up
17-70mm; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; 1/4s @ f/20
-gold reflector used to illuminate the right side of trunk


Photo 5: Saguaro Cactus against the Catalina Mountains
70-200mm; Singh-Ray LB Colorcombo polarizer; 2.5s @ f/18
The Colorcombo polarizer is quickly becoming one of my favorite filters for helping to bring out vivid saturation.