Baltimore Oriole - Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary - High Island, TX - May 19, 2021

The tide and weather were both terrible for photographing shorebirds during my recent trip to the Bolivar Peninsula of Texas. But the birds at the nearby Smith Oaks Rookery and Bird Sanctuary did not abandon the area because of the weather. The sanctuary is heavily wooded and the light levels are low even when the clouds are not obscuring the sun. When it is overcast, ISOs rocket and mandatory noise reduction obscures detail. But I was pleased to get a couple of shots of the Oriole in the open, even if the detail in the images is reduced.

Olympus E-M1X camera and 150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @234mm
1/1250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 4000

Olympus E-M1X camera and 150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @234mm
1/1250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 4000

David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.