Birds from Salta Province, Argentina

Spot-backed Puffbird, Canon 5D III, Canon 500mm f4L IS w/ 1.4x TC, f5.6, 1/2000th, ISO 1600.

I love birding. I love bird photography. The two do not always go together as easily as one might expect. In fact, I’d say they don’t go together particularly well. I can do half-assed bird photography while I’m birding, but it hard to create my best work. The other way around however, hardly works at all. If I’m trying to make good images of birds, I can’t be birding at the same time. Set ups, searching, and composition take way too much time and mental effort to dedicate any of my limited capacities to searching out new bird species.

This trip, with a few exceptions, I was doing half-assed photography while birding. But the fates smiled on me at least a few times and put me together with good subjects in decent conditions while I had my equipment with me. These five shots are all from around the Finca Santa Anita in Salta Province, Argentina. (I’ll have more bird images from later in the trip in a future post). The farm is surrounded by a mish-mash of semi-tropical habitats of scrubby forest, lake edge, fields, gardens, and hedge-rows. We saw around 80 species in the area without searching too hard. I’d like to return at some point and spend more time working the good pieces of habitat, and exploring further afield. But I could say that of every place we visited this trip, and perhaps every place I’ve ever visited. Perhaps someday I’ll manage to dedicate myself entirely to a place for all the time I want.

Oh, that’s right, I already do, It’s called Alaska. (Poor me.)

Male Saffron Finch. Canon 5d III, 500mm f4L IS w/ 1.4x TC, f5.6, 1/500th, ISO 1600.

Rufous Hornero (This species was abundant just about everywhere we went on the trip). Canon 5d III, Canon 500mm f4L IS w/ 1.4x TC, f5.6, 1/200th, ISO3200.