Rock Wren & Repost
by Dennis Plank
There is a unit of Lava Beds National Monument called the Petroglyphs unit that is just outside Tule Lake NWR. The petroglyphs are part way up a cliff face and the thought is they were executed from boats when the level of the lake was sufficiently high to reach the cliffs. Now they are protected from vandals by a fence. For birders, and even bigger attraction is the fact that the cliff face is incredibly pocketed with holes and ledges of all sizes making it prime territory for birds that favor such accommodations. I'd been there in the winter, but always wanted to visit it in nesting season. We were a bit late this year, but still had a few swallows, pigeons, and house sparrows in addition to rock wrens and Prairie Falcons. Two of the rock wrens were chasing one another allover the place, but unfortunately only pause long enough for photographs on the wire. Unfortunately, the cliff face is in shadow in the morning and I didn't make it back for evening light (the cliff faces west so it should have good evening light almost any time of the year).
7DII, Sigma 150-600 mm C @ 600 mm, handheld, f/6.3, 1/640, iso 1000, aperture priority, pattern metering. Processed in LR5 & CS6. Cropped to 5.9 MP before resizing for the web. Taken at 8:23 AM on July 16th.
Your comments and criticisms are very welcome.
Thanks,
Comments
8 commentsThanks for your input.
Your second posting is a big improvement in making the wren stand out.
Peter
May