A few days ago, I stopped at the Ajo sewage ponds and counted all the birds for my eBird checklist. I was leaving when I took one last look and saw a gull that hadn’t been there before. A look through my binos revealed it was a Black-legged Kittiwake, quite a rare bird in Arizona and the first one ever recorded here at Ajo. Needless to say, quite a few birders made the trip out here to see it and it stayed all day, so they all got to see it. The following morning, it was gone.
The star of the show for one day, a Black-legged Kittiwake. This Lincoln’s Sparrow posed nicely for me with a nice background. This was at Highway Tank. A young Oregon Junco at the golf course. Yesterday I saw two Prairie Falcons at Highway Tank, one chasing the other. Later I saw this one perched and it let me get fairly close. A Desert Blond Tarantula that was out on a cool morning. IC 410, popularly called the Tadpole Nebula. It is located in the constellation Auriga, about 12,400 light years out there. I used a new filter, the IDAS NBZ Nebula Booster, to create this image. It is a dual band filter that allows Ha and OII light waves to pass but it filters out moonlight and other light pollution, so I can still do astro on moonlit nights, as least for nebulas. It is not going to work on galaxies. It will only work with the 500f4 lens. In this case, this is the first time I’ve imaged this nebula and was able to really see the “tadpoles”. The Heart Nebula, taken during a night with a bright moon, using the new filter. With this new filter and my new software, I’m seeing a big improvement in nebula photography.
2 replies on “A New Bird for Lake Ajo”
Nice shots!
Good pics. How cool to see a kittiwake there.
I see the tadpoles!
2 replies on “A New Bird for Lake Ajo”
Nice shots!
Good pics. How cool to see a kittiwake there.
I see the tadpoles!