Hercules and I did a quick Big Blue trip down to the Cibola National Forest between Socorro and Magdalena after Thanksgiving. Here are some pics I took as we drove up Water Canyon Road. The view changed at every hairpin turn as both we and the sun climbed higher — a fascinating evolution to observe.
Up near the top, we parked and walked towards South Baldy. The views were expansive (though not as sweet as they are when they’re earned after a hike instead of freebies accessed from the car). Here’s one that’s looking out towards the VLA.
After a nervous drive back down the icy/snowy/cliffy forest road, we swung by Bernardo Waterfowl area upon J-‘s suggestion to see the Sandhill cranes that stop by there on their migratory route. That was a pretty special scene — hundreds and hundreds of birds all eating from the corn and alfalfa that was planted for them at the refuge and singing the song of their people.
I mostly watched and absorbed, but I went ahead and tried my hand with some photos, too. I felt a little silly out there with my wee little 200 mm lens amongst folks with gigantic telephoto lenses. This was also my first time trying to freeze animal motion, and the images make it clear that I need more practice! Still, if you don’t look too closely at them, I like them.
Dawn and dusk are the best times, I was told, to see the cranes, so I also got distracted a little by capturing the sunset.
EMC Photography, Ph.D. 
Nice photos of birds in flight. Thanks for sharing. Dad
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Elizabeth,
You’re taking some really good images! I love them! Especially the first 2 (landscapes) and the 3 of the birds towards the bottom. You have the gift of a great artistic sense – something that can’t be taught. It’s in your DNA.
I sympathize your frustration of trying to get close enough to the birds to get a larger image on the sensor. Even if you drop big bucks on optics, the longer the lens, the harder it is to keep the birds well positioned on the sensor and keep the focus locked on their eyes. I find that the DoF is too shallow in the close in-flight images to go from eye to wingtip. My Canon body is getting long in the tooth, but it does have a decent tracking lock in the continuous focus mode. All my prior Canon DSLRs and my mirrorless Nikon have APS-c sensors, and my long Canon lens is a 100-400mm. It produces the same image on the APS-c sensor as it would on a 61MegPixel full frame sensor (same pixel dimensions – assuming Canon ever made such a body) – or alternatively a 640mm equivalent image on the 24MegPixel APS-c actually in the camera body. I still wind up severely cropping the image – and spending serious time in PhotoShop making up for the fact I really need something more like a 1000mm lens!!
If you’d like to see what a longer lens would do (with the same 24MegPixel resolution you have), you can go to my flicker images at Jerry W Baumann | Flickr . There are a number of shots of the Sandhills in flight. And to repeat – all have been cropped. If you have a bunch of greens stuff burning a hole in your wallet, Nikon makes a 100-400mm lens and a (supposedly very good) 1.4X tele-convertor. That would give you a 140-560mm equivalent, f5.6-f8 lens. And it wouldn’t weigh any more than the thing I haul around. You will wind up needing physical therapy for your left arm, but hey – it’s the price of a good photo! And all for the modest price of $2700 + $550 = $3250 (plus tax).
One final thought. There will always be some new piece of gear you could use. And it’s all bulky, heavy, expensive, and no matter what you buy, there will always be some shots you’ll miss – always something else you could use!
Cheers,
Jerry
Sent from Mail for Windows
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