From a bridge across one of the Refuge ponds.  This is a rehabilitated bird who was injured while migrating through Albuquerque this spring.  Released at Bosque, he chose to stay.

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I sent quite a while moving around to try to get a clear shot at this bird.  Fortunately, he was patient.  Exposure spot-metered on his breast, no compensation.

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Male American kestrels, or sparrow hawks, are among the most beautifully colored American raptors.  This was one of a pair working from a dead cottonwood.  Kestrels are the smallest falcons and are almost impossible to get close enough to fill the frame, even with a super telephoto

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I had to move fast to set up and frame before the sun rose above the antenna.  Averaged metering.

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Early morning light.

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One of the three arms of the Very Large Array.  The Observatory is operating in the large aperture configuration; the farthest dish is 14 km from the camera.  This is a  good illustration of the air quality in the New Mexico Rockies.  Later in the day smoke from fires in the Gila Wilderness reduced the visibility to what I am accustomed to in Dallas-Fort Worth in the summertime.

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Antelope are plentiful and relatively tame at the VLA.  They did insist on presenting at least one rump each time I shot.

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Detail of one receiving antenna with the special crawler engine used to pick up, transport, and reposition the dishes.

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Comparison of these two wide angle lenses.  I'm not sure which composition I like better.  Don't read anything into the color rendition differences - though the exposure settings were identical, the Photoshop levels balancings were not.

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Another wide angle view, this time seeing the face of the dish.

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Moth, warming up after the cold night by slowly pumping his wings,; I waited for him to pause.

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Shot from the window of the car; red-tailed hawk doing his impression of a B-2 bomber.

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Another cooperative New Mexico critter.  The lens front element was about 6 inches from the lizard.

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Cicadas in New Mexico are particularly loud, but also handsome.  This shot failed the capture the chestnut color on the insect.

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Unfortunately, the elk did not come out until after sunset.  I feel lucky to have gotten this record shot, as dark as it was.  No time to load faster film.

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Late in the afternoon, the shadows at White Sands are fascinating.  Exposure spot metered on the plant.

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Those footsteps are not as easy to see after sunset when one is trying to retrace the way out of the dunes and back to the car.

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Exposure spot-metered on the shadowed sand.

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Abstract art with Zuiko.

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Sunset light.

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After sunset.

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Another after sunset shot.

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The final New Mexico trip shot, made outside the Sweet Indulgences Dessert Cafe in Las Cruces.  Highly recommended.  The cafe, that is.

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