Lajitas banding, then CMO work

Kelly couldn't make his banding this week so he had substitutes fill in. There was a photo shoot going on at Lajitas while we were there, but it didn't distract us too much. One guy who was enthralled watching the banding, and getting his picture taken holding a hummer, said the photo ops at the banding table were more interesting than the other. Here's the "other," a bird of few feathers.

Too bad we didn't have bigger bands, like 36DD. I was impressed because I didn't see any tattoos on her...none visible anyway. But those shoes gotta go.

Back at CMO we are still catching a few Lucifer Hummingbirds. After banding I worked as hard as I could at catching up. In the morning I'll caulk the roof and service my feeders before heading back to catch up in town. I don't feel as stressed now, though. That's the main thing.

I played a little with my new close-up lens but not enjoying it yet. Someone suggested I zoom my lens back to 100mm on manual focus, and use the zoom to focus. I haven't mastered that. Here's a photo I took doing that, and my depth of field is like zero. Couldn't even get a flat butterfly sharp in both wings. So I have to play with it more. Just no butterflies or odes to practice on. On this Fatal Metalmark I could have done as good, or better, without the closeup lens I think.

I saw a tree abloom with Cattle Egrets at Lajitas and quite a few Clay-colored Sparrows, but migration is definitely winding down.