Olive Sparrow

Olive Sparrow, Ramirez Family Ranch, Roma, Texas

©Christopher Dodds www.chrisdoddsphoto.com

Canon EOS 1DsMKIII, 500mm F4 Lens with 1.4X II Tele-converter

ISO 400, F6.3, 1/320s Aperture priority (evaluative +2/3), Flash ETTL II -2+2/3

Like Gulls, Sparrows are often overlooked by “bird” photographers, so I was pretty excited to photograph this secretive Olive Sparrow that only resides in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico. Also known as “Green Finch” and “Texas Sparrow”, it is the only sparrow with an olive back (as seen in the image). Truth be told, this is just one of those species that I was thrilled to see - the images were a huge extra! Thanks again, Roel!
I left home at 02:00 this morning and arrived at the Howard Johnson Hotel in Leamington, Ontario without incident. After a quick supper, I’ll be meeting the workshop participants and giving a brief slideshow. Artie made his huge trek safely, and we are both anxious to get out and photograph some Warblers in the morning. The weather forecast looks like a fallout might actually happen on Saturday, May 9; how I hope the weatherman is right for once. Time permitting, I’ll post some Warbler images during the next day, or two.