The first time is always more exciting

Emma and I headed out early this morning to revisit Sony Bono Salton Sea NWR.  I was hoping to see lots of waterfowl before they began their journey north for the summer.  An ulterior motive was to get some photos for the latest Photo Bug group challenge here at Jojoba.  Our assignment for next Friday is to bring in some photos where we only took one shot of the subject, and did no after shot processing of the photo.  I almost always process my photos before putting them on the blog.  Cropping is the most frequent tool I use, and I absolutely can’t stand tilted horizons.

This is a good challenge for me.  You have to think about composition, lighting, and myriad other things before pushing the button to take the shot.  I have to admit that I cheated a bit though, since I have difficulty keeping the camera steady.  If I thought the photo was blurry, I took a second shot.  It also helps if your subject isn’t moving, but as you know, wildlife is my favorite subject and it seldom holds still.

Sony Bono NWR is a two hour drive away, and I was excited to find this coyote coming down one of the hills only a half hour into the drive.  I pulled off the road, lowered the passenger’s side window, and whipped up my 150-600mm lens camera only to find I couldn’t extend the lens.  It’s been several months since I’ve used this lens, and I really fumbled around trying to unlock the zoom.  This photo is severely cropped to even tell there was a coyote out there.

Eventually I got the lens unlocked, and got this parting shot.  It’s cropped too, so I won’t be using it at Photo Bugs. 

Along the way I had to travel through a portion of Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  I just wished these ocotillos were in bloom so the flowers at the tips of the branches would have brought out a pop of red.

I got to the refuge and stopped at the visitors center to find out what was around.  Compared to the volunteer I talked to in October when I was here, this lady was lack luster.  It was rather disappointing.  What the hay?  She couldn’t answer my questions with anything other than a maybe or I think so.  Not the best person for the job I’d say.

Overall the visit was a bomb.  Didn’t find much, and took next to no photos.  The wind was blowing like crazy and the area made me think of what I had read about the dustbowl of the 1930’s.  You could barely make out the surrounding mountains. 

Oh well, I’ve found that the first time volunteering at a refuge is always the most exciting.  Everything’s new I guess.  It’s not so exciting the second time around.  I won’t be making any more trips to Sony Bono this year.  Time to set my sights elsewhere.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy