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Astrophotography Birding Photography

Hints of Spring

I know it is only January but here in the Sonoran Desert, there are hints of spring already. Yesterday, I stopped at the ponds in the late afternoon and just after sunset I saw a Lesser Nighthawk foraging over the water. There are more flycatchers of every species now. Where there was one Black Phoebe, now there are two or three. I’m seeing more Ash-throated Flycatchers everywhere I go. The moon has been bright and the nights fairly cloudy but soon I will be able to do astro again, hopefully in the next few days.

M81, a large and bright galaxy near the Big Dipper. I have done this before, this time I added five hours of exposure to what I had taken last winter.
I’ve seen two Sage Thrashers in the last week. Here’s one of them, checking me out from the cover of a creosote bush.
This male Phainopepla cooperated for a nice photo out at Highway Tank.
A couple of nights ago I went out to the Barn Owl hole to see if I could get a photo when they emerged for the night. That didn’t work out, they just flew out and away. I was hoping they would land and look around for a while first. On my way back to town, I saw this Great Horned Owl perched on a El Paso natural gas line marker. I took this photo in the headlights with flash.

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