"Bird Blind Workshop"
PHOTO WORKSHOP: New Bird Photo Blind Workshops for the Fall season: Sept. 18-19, 2010, Sept. 25-26, 2010, Oct. 16-17, 2010 –Location: Ramrod Ranch (Clink on Link below for More Information) IncredibleTravelPhotos.com Ramrod Ranch (Bird Blind Photography) Over sixty years ago, my dad wanted a place of his own to go deer hunting. Thus, the ramrod ranch was born. A son’s duty is to follow his father footsteps in learning about guns and hunting—a rite of passage into adulthood. Somewhere along the way, around eighteen years of age, I started to break from my father’s path. I saw death up close and personal with the dark, black, shining eye of a black-tail deer buck gone dull and gray with death by my own hand. This is the moment that changed my life; setting me on the path of cherishing life, rejecting the killing that comes with hunting. Now no hunting is allowed. My friends and I have developed the property for nature photography; especially for bird photography by building a couple of permanent ponds on the property. If you feed birds, they will come, so we place perches and feeders around our little ponds--arranging the perches to obtain the best and cleanest backgrounds. From mid April on the rains stop and the country dries out, during the hot summer months our little ponds provide life sustaining and precious water for all the bird species around. In addition to food, water is a prime attraction for birds. How they do like to bath and clean their feathers! There are two ponds; each attracts its species, a few species only using one pond. Most species found at both ponds. Two different habitats; one pond is closer to the brush covered hillsides, the other in the more open oak grasslands near the cabin. We use photo blinds and place them next to the ponds, so with the right photographic equipment you can get frame filled images. It is just marvelous to watch birds in their nature habitat, going about their lives, acting completely natural. To hear a group of California quail calling around your blind is music to the senses. Sometimes a few mammals will surprise us and come to drink too. Chipmunks are my favorite, as they bustle and scamper about, they always make me happy. I have never seen a sad chipmunk. I love this place! It is in my heart—it is where I grew up and learned to love the natural world. It’s where I make “nature images that sing to your heart”. Come to our bird photography workshop and I will share it with you. Bruce Finocchio Wildlife and Nature photographer