Kansas Mine Ore Tipple - 41698

An abandoned ore tipple along Duquesne Road north west of Wahsington Camp and Duquesne. Both are mining ghost towns near the Mexican Border in southeast Arizona

Canon 20D - 1/50th second, 30mm @ f/ 4, ISO 100

Harshaw, Az - 41612

Canon 20D - 1/80th second, 14mm @ f/ 29, ISO 400

Harshaw - 41606

Abandoned abode house in the ghost-town of Harshaw, Az.

Canon 20D - 1/400th second,28mm @ f/ 6.3, ISO 100

An Occasional Visitor

This Northern Mockingbird surveys the surrounding area on a rare visit to my front yard watering hole.

Canon 20D - 1/1250th second, 363mm @ f/ 9, ISO 800

Looking for Lift

A Turkey Vulture catches a little bit of a thermal over the runway at Flying Diamond Air Park.

Canon 20D - 1/500th second, 500mm @ f/ 9, ISO 400

Tail Stretching Thrasher

One of my yard Thrashers ruffled and stretched some of its feathers for me this afternoon.

Canon 20D - 1/2000th second, 500mm @ f/ 7,1, ISO 800

".. Oooh Baby, Oooh, Said Oooh"

Older readers may remember that part of a chorus from a Fleetwood Mac song...

One on the many White Winged Doves in this part of the Sonoran Desert slowly approaches the water for a drink. The less brave among the flock are standing back at a distance.

Canon 20D - 1/125th seond, 500mm @ f/ 20, ISO 400

Thirsty Jack Rabbit

For most of the time I was out in my yard taking pics of the wildlife, this rabbit drank from the leaky pipe that is the source of this water hole several times. On this rare occasion it had come back and drank from the puddle, all the while keeping a wary eye in the direction of the strange sound.

Canon 20D - 1/1250th second, 500mm @ f/ 7.1, ISO 400

Closeup - Male Gamble's Quail

Another shot taken with the Sigma 50-500 "Bigma".
Gamble's Quail are pretty nervous birds, so it took a while before they became calm enough when hearing the sound of the mirror slapping inside my camera to come out into the open to allow me this shot.
Canon 20D - 1/2000th second, 500mm @ f/ 6.3, ISO 400

Male House Finch with the "Bigma"

Canon 20D - 1/5000th second, 500mm @ f/ 6.3, ISO 400

Wildcat on the Catwalk

A group of UA students were using the 61" Kuiper telescope while I was searching for NEOs at the Schmidt. As expected, someone went out on the catwalk during the night to look for clouds or just enjoy the view of the stars, as witnessed by the flashlight trail.

Canon 20D - 20 second, 10mm @ f/ 4, ISO 3200

Male Broad-Billed 41427

Here's the other shot that was broadcast on KOLD news last night and today.

Erin Jordan got my name right. Thanks Erin!

Canon 20D - 1/800th second, 400mm @ f/ 5.6, ISO 400

Broad-Billed 42420

Viewers of Tucson's Channel 13 news at 10pm saw this image of a female Broad-Billed hummingbird at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon.

I'm not sure why Chuck George called me David though!

Canon 20D - 1/5000th second, 400mm @ f/ 5.6, ISO 1600

Madera Creek HDR -41437,8

While in Madera Canyon, I made some exposures to try out High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. This is a first attempt, using two images.

Canon 20D - 1/4 & 1/30th seconds, 20mm @ f/ 32, ISO 100

Saguaro National Park, West - 41510

Canon 20D - 1/800th second, 285mm @ f/ 5.6, ISO 100

Saguaro National Park, West - 41499

Canon 20D - 1/250th second, 47mm @ f/ 13, ISO 200

When plain water isn't good enough!

Acorn Woodpeckers are rather common at Madera Canyon. This guy wasn't satisfied with plain old water, but instead got his fill of sugar water from the same feeder the Rufous Hummingbird (below) stopped at a short time earlier.

Canon 20D - 1/2500th second, 320mm @ f/ 5.6, ISO 1600

Male Rufous Hummingbird

The Spring migration has begun!

This male Rufous hummer was not very happy with me sitting on a bench just feet away from where he was trying to feed at the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon. This little guy is only about 90mm (3.5 inches) from head to tail.

I took his image and then let him re-energize in peace.

Canon 20D - 1/1600th second, 400mm @ f/ 10, ISO 1600

Ghost Town Cemetery

From the late 1880s through the early 1900s, Helvetia was a copper mining town southeast of Tucson. During its height, about 500 people lived and worked there and hundreds of tons of copper was removed from the ground beneath the town. Today, almost all that is left are the reamins of the mines and the over-grown, seldom visited cemetery.

Canon 20D - 1/250th second, 120mm @ f/ 32, ISO 1600

Lucy's Warbler - 42134

Another, much rarer visitor to my front yard watering hole, a Lucy's Warbler.

Canon 20D - 1/1000th second, 400mm @ f/ 5.6, ISO 200

Female Cardinal

This highly cropped image is one of a handful of shots I got of this female Cardinal visiting the water hole at my front yard. She was a bit more skittish than her partner, taking flight away from the sounds of the shutter and mirror slapping. She must have been pretty thristy as she came back rather quickly, so I didn't take too many shots. Instead I let her relax and slake her thrist

Canon 20D - 1/1000th second, 400mm @ f/ 5.6, ISO 200, "Up-rezed" in Photoshop CS using Bicubic Smoother