We took it easy this morning after both of us slept well last night. I think the more humid environment here has made my sinuses happier and apparently I didn't snore last night. Ihad my normal brekfast and opened up a new 2.2-lb bag of LavAzza Gran Filtro Dark Roast coffee. We left around 9:00 in the Jeep.

We drove up to the head of Madera Canyon. Madera Canyon is at about 5000 ft (1525m) above sea level and is an island in the sky compared to the low desert below the mountains. It's home to many bird species, and is a good place to see hummingbirds (blue-throated, broad-billed, and magnificent) and the elusive elegant trogon. We came back down and stopped at the Santa Rosa Lodge to watch some wild turkeys that were feeding below some bird feeders. The location wasn't good for photography so we just watched for a while. Another photographer was there and we talked about hummingbird photography a bit. We left and drove to the Whitehouse Canyon Picnic area. We walked up and down the canyon a bit looking for birds, including the elegant trogon. We didn't see anything interesting.

We returned to the RV around 10:15. I photographed some juncos near our site while J prepared some hummingbird feeder solution. After she hung out some feeders, we walked over to the camp host's site to photograph the birds around his feeders. There were yellow-eyed junco, bridled titmouse, and an Arizona woodpecker. We didn't get any great shots.

We returned to the RV around 11:20 and I downloaded the images I took this morning. Then I downselected them in iView followed by Capture One (C1).

I had lunch around 12:05 and J went outside to photograph some birds at our campsite including hummingbirds with natural light. I went outside around 12:35 to join her. I got some nice images of an Arizona gray squirrel (below left) and a gray-headed junco (below right).


We set up our strobist flash system around one of our hummingbird feeders. It's comprised of one Canon Speedlite 580EX II, one Canon Speedlite 580EX, one Canon Speedlite 550EX, and a Sunpak auto 383 Super powered by two Quantum Turbo 2x2 Batteries to reduce recycle time. Unfortunately, one of the Quantum Cable CZ that I purchased on eBay to power a Canon Speedlite didn't work all of the time. The flashes were triggered by a PT-04TM wireless flash trigger system with two transmitters (one for J and one for me) and four receivers (one for each flash). We had two flashes in front and above the target, one flash in front and below the target, and one flash behind and above the target, all set to 1/16th power in manual mode. We hadn't purchased an appropriate background yet, so the flash was only illuminating the target and the background was dark. J really liked the effect, and I wasn't so keen on it. We were able to get some nice shots of the broad-billed (below left) and magnificent (below right) humming birds. We had to be careful to share the flashes though because sometimes we would get the bird framed and in focus at about the same time, but one of us would fire the flashes a split second before the other and the second person wouldn't get the benefit of the flash. :( It was good to finally use the system after carrying around the pieces for several months.


As we were photographing the hummingbirds, J made up a batch of Teriyaki Marinade and started marinating a flatiron steak. She also prepared a batch of Grilled Cheesy Potatoes. Some of our birder neighbors came over to watch for a while, and they were all excited about the magnificent hummingbird that was coming to our feeder. A photographer stopped by too, and after we chatted for a while, J let him put his Canon 40D body on her lens and use her flash trigger so he could get some shots. The guy was thrilled! It turns out that he was originally from a town close to where J had lived years ago. As it was approaching sunset, I set up the grill, then grilled the Grilled Cheesy Potatoes and flatiron steak.

We had dinner around 6:15.

J did the dishes because I had spent so much time setting up our strobist system. I downloaded the images I took this afternoon then took a shower. J showered while I downselected the images from this afternoon in Capture One (C1). I processed four images for the blog. I looked for Quantum CZ cables on eBay, and found someone in China selling a third party brand for a lot less than ones made in the US.