It was a good year, at least for photographing bird, and there were many rare migrants this spring (see my 2020 Northern Nevada Rare Spring Migrants post). One of my 2020 favorites was this Hutton’s Vireo that showed up during the Truckee Meadows CBC in Reno. It is a common migrant that breeds in the Santa Cruz, CA area but this was the first ebird report for Nevada. It took 2 days and about 4 hours on the second day to capture the guy. It was a cool cloudy morning so I lowered the shutter speed to 1/640s with image stabilization on. I started using a 1.5x teleconverter (TC) and was surprised with the image quality since with my D800 the TC produce a slight soft focus. With the TC, there was a loss of 1 f-stop so with the lighting conditions I used the lowest f/5.6 to obtain a low ISO250. It was very hard to capture this bird since he was flying in and out of the conifers until he perched on a shrub for a few seconds. I like the bokeh with the fall off of the depth of field.
Featured Photo: Hutton's Vireo (Vireo huttoni) - Virgina Lake, Reno WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 with 1.4 TC Taken: 12-23-2020 at 9:31
Settings: 700mm (35mm eqv), 1/640s, f/5.6, ISO250, +1/3EV, Conditions: cloudy
I’ve been trying to capture the crown of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet for almost 20 years and I finally did in 2020. This Kinglet had just taken a bath and was preening while flashing his red crown the entire time. Another bird I’ve been trying to capture was the Golden-crowned Kinglet and I finally had my chance along the sagebrush area of lower Whites Creek Canyon.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) - Whites Creek Canyon, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 with 1.4 TC Taken: 10-22-2020 at 10:52
Settings: 700mm (35mm eqv), 1/800s, f/5.6, ISO450, +1/3EV, Conditions: shade
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) - Whites Creek Canyon, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 with 1.4 TC Taken: 12-18-2020 at 9:53
Settings: 700mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/6.3, ISO640, +1/3EV, Conditions: shady
I found this Rock Wren in Carson City County (CAR) singing on this rock. When the guy hopped to another rock I quickly moved to the rock and I was able to get 3-5m from it before it hopped back to his perch. This was taken using the 1.5x TC and you can see that the D850 really keeps the image sharp.
Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) - Centennial Rec Area, CAR (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 with 1.4 TC Taken: 12-03-2020 at 10:52
Settings: 700mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/6.3, ISO220, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
I really like raptors and I was able to capture this Rough-legged hawk early in 2020 at Swan Lake. The Osprey was a lucky find. I was walking along the Truckee River near Crystal Peak Park and when I emerged from the brush I looked up to find this Osprey. It was about 5m from me and I was so close that I couldn’t get the entire bird in the frame.
Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) - Swan Lake, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 1-13-2020 at 9:40
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO720, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) - Crystal Peak Park, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 6-16-2020 at 9:40
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/5.6, ISO200, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Sabine's Gulls are not very common in the Reno area and this one was feeding around Little Washoe Lake. Another good find was the American Bittern, which I stumbled onto at the Carson City Waste Water Treatment Plant Wetlands. I looked over after passing a group of reed and there she was right in the open. I like that she was looking right at me.
Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini) - Little Washoe Lake, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 9-27-2020 at 10:52
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/5.6, ISO450, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) - Carson City WWTP Wetlands, CAR (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 11-19-2020 at 11:50
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/5.6, ISO400, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Long-eared Owls breed at Bonham Ranch. The Ranch is over 2 hours north of my home so I make it a long day in the Smoke Creek Desert. I got there just after sunrise and not only did I capture this adult I found 3 owlets. Finally in my top 10, was this Green-winged Teal. I have found that the waterfowl in Nevada usually swim away as soon as they see me, most likely due to the hunting, so it is hard to get close. This Teal was in a narrow section of the Boynton Slough and although he was swimming away he gave me a great profile while keeping an eye on me.
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) - Smoke Creek Desert - Bonham Ranch, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 4-30-2020 at 5:38
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1600s, f/5.6, ISO400, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) - Boynton Slough, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 11-20-2020 at 11:09
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/5.6, ISO640, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Here are a few more photos I liked from 2020.
American Wigeon (Mareca americana) - Diamond Creek Pond, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 10-13-2020 at 10:50
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1600s, f/5.6, ISO560, +1/3EV, Conditions: shade
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) - Carson City WWTP Wetlands, CAR (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 10-07-2020 at 8:21
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/5.6, ISO800, +1/3EV, Conditions: cloudy
Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) - Swan Lake - Boardwalk, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 10-09-2020 at 7:17
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1000s, f/5.6, ISO500, +1/3EV, Conditions: cloudy
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) - D'Andrea Pkwy, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 01-07-2020 at 11:58
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/5.6, ISO250, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Northern Flicker, Red-shafted (Colaptes auratus cafer) - Mont Pelier, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D500 (1.5 crop sensor), Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 Taken: 10-10-2020 at 11:58
Settings: 450mm (35mm eqv), 1/1800s, f/2.8, ISO180, +1/3EV, Conditions: cloudy
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) - Washoe Lake SP - Deadmans Creek, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 01-22-2020 at 12:27
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/6.3, ISO125, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya) - Damonte Ranch Wetlands--Veterans Pkwy Lake, WAS (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 with 1.4 TC Taken: 12-09-2020 at 9:47
Settings: 700mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/6.3, ISO180, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Sibling Mustangs - Hidden Valley, WAS(NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 01-15-2020 at 13:33
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1250s, f/5.6, ISO320, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
White-headed Woodpecker (Dryobates albolarvatus) - Spooner Lake SP, DOU (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 5-14-2020 at 11:12
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/800s, f/4.0, ISO250, +1/3EV, Conditions: shady
Wilson's Warbler (Cardellina pusilla) - No Canyon Trail, CAR (NV)
EQ: Nikon D850, Nikkor 500mm f/4 Taken: 7-3-2020 at 11:12
Settings: 500mm (35mm eqv), 1/1000s, f/5.0, ISO250, +1/3EV, Conditions: sunny
Your comments are welcomed and if you have any questions about these photos or any other leave me a message.