Perspectives

Lesser Prairie Chicken - Milnesand Prairie Preserve, New Mexico

When I got out of bed this morning at about 4:30 I was hoping and praying that the wind had died down overnight. When I got out ot my car to head off to the refuge, I was reasured to find that it had dropped some, not totally, but enough that I figured I would be able to photograph this morning. I arrived at my destination on The Nature Conservancy’s Milnesand Prairie Preserve a few minutes after 5:00 and decided to not set up my big blind but just use a cloth blind I used a lot last year in Australia. This way I could sit on the ground and sit on the edges of the blind to help reduce the flapping of fabric in the wind. Unfortunately, sitting cross legged on the ground for 3+ hours didn’t sound like my ideal way to spend the morning.

Once I set up I quickly realized that there were a whole bunch of birds around me and as it slowly began to get light I could see first just outlines and then details. By sunrise, about 6:10, I had a pretty good idea of where the birds were and how some of the interaction worked. For the next 2 hours I photographed like crazy taking way more pictures than I want to spend the time editing. I find that happens a lot, especially with this new camera and its 9 frames per second speed.

I hoped to get some interaction of the males sparring as well as a couple different shots of birds in flight. The standard portraits come easily while trying for the more difficult shots. By the end of the morning, I ended up with a ton of portraits and a few action shots which aren’t quite what I had hoped for but not too bad. I think I can improve on the action stuff so I am just posting a portrait now.

As the wind slowly started to pick up again, I decided to break my cover and go set up my blind before it became impossible. Now I am all set and ready to photograph this evening, from a chair which will save my back, and I should be able to get some good stuff. More to come tonight but now I am off to do some birding!