We went out to Black Butte Reservoir (west of Chico, CA) today and I finally photographed a Rock Wren! #RockWren #Birds #BirdPhotography #BlackButteReservoir #Fujifilm #SOoC

Rock wren, Badlands National Park (photo taken in May).
#birds #birdphotography #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #badlands #badlandsnationalpark #rockwren #wren #nationalpark #nationalparks #landscapephotography

Rock Wren on a Rock

https://staging-f54f-jacquesf.wpcomstaging.com/2025/02/25/rock-wren-on-a-rock-2/

Rock Wren on a Rock

https://jacquesfortierart.com/2025/02/25/rock-wren-on-a-rock-2/

Rock Wren on a Tree

In fairness to scientists, this Rock Wren is on a dead tree. If it were a live tree, I think they’d have quite a a lot of explaining to do!

Exploring Mojave National Preserve

Lately, I’ve been connecting my photography more with adventures. Ever since I visited Joshua Tree National Park at the end of last year, I’ve wanted to return to the Mojave to try to capture Cactus Wrens in desert vistas. When I saw a photo by Adam Elliott of Mojave National Preserve, I knew I had to find a way to add birds into those amazing lanscapes.

So, at the beginning of my Thanksgiving week break, I loaded backpacking gear into a rented Jeep and headed out to the preserve.

As I’d been led to expect, the preserve was vast and mostly empty. There are two campgrounds with a few dozen spots. There are also a number of unofficial dispersed campsites that predate the establishment of the preserve in 1994. The Park Service allows continued use of the existing dispersed sites; camping in undisturbed areas is not allowed. I’d mapped out a couple dozen potential sites, and found my first choice unoccupied when I arrived around noon.

After setting up camp, I headed to my first photography spot. I found the vista I was after, and a fair number of cholla cacti, but no Cactus Wrens. There were horses wandering around. Given how friendly they were, I suspect they belonged to the ranch across the road from the wilderness area.

With the sunset popping off and no wildlife deigning to pose in front of my lens, I ended up switching to Jeep photography.

After sunset, I headed back to camp, made dinner, and then tried to sleep in the howling wind. Around midnight, I gave up trying to sleep with the tent flapping nonstop and moved into the back of the Jeep.

The next day, I did a 6 mile hike to try to track down better wildlife spots. Right at the outset, I found a Bewick’s Wren and a Cactus Wren, but they were very shy. I saw a number of Ladder-Backed Woodpeckers, but I’ve yet to figure out how to work with them, so I snapped some quick photos and kept going.

After a few hours, I came across a couple of Cactus Wrens in a spot with some promising landscapes. I had a feeling, being a pair, that they would exhibit classic wren curiosity and territory defense. Sure enough, they hung around and gave me a few good looks. The light was very harsh, but there were good possibilities for a future shoot.

Towards the end of the hike, I heard the ping of a Rock Wren’s call. It was at a perfect spot, with a collection of boulders to perch on and a distant vista. I resisted the urge to do portraits, put on my 24-105 mm lens, and worked on bird landscapes.

This might be the first time I’ve photographed birds at 70 mm. It felt like a good initial attempt, but there are definitely things to improve. For one thing, my natural instinct was line up a distant background and rely on distance to clean up any distractions behind the bird. That works great at 400 mm. At 70 mm, there’s only going to be so much blurring, so it’s better to pick a cleaner near background than a messier distant one.

Those clouds behind the wren looked poised to pop off at sunset, but with a ways to go on an unfamiliar trail, I opted to keep going instead of waiting for the really good light.

I heard plenty of cactus wrens towards the end of the hike, but the scenery wasn’t all that inspiring. After a full day of hiking and bird photography, I got back in the Jeep and headed back to camp. I made a quick stop on the way to photograph some distant mountains in the glow of blue hour. Just look at those layers!

I made a big mistake on my third day. After a couple nights without a ton of sleep, I checked the forecast, saw it called for a cloudy day, and decided to sleep in. When I was awakened 20 minutes before sunrise by a warm glow filtering into the tent, I realized my blunder. Clouds are rare enough in the desert that it’s worth being up at sunrise even on a cloudy day on the off chance the sun pokes through and creates some rare dramatic light.

I jumped into the Jeep and raced off to the Rock Wren spot. By the time I got there, the last colors were fading from the sky. I quickly looked around and spotted… wait a second, this isn’t a Rock Wren!

Apparently the wrens were on an exchange program that morning, but order was eventually returned to the universe as the Cactus Wren alighted on some Buckthorn Cholla. Sadly, it didn’t choose the top limb of the cactus, making the difference between an okay photo and a great photo.

After about an hour, the wrens got less active, so I headed back to the Jeep to go back to camp and make breakfast.

When I got back to the Jeep, I found myself in a real predicament. For whatever reason, I’d locked the Jeep, and the fob wasn’t working to unlock it. Even worse, the emergency key was an uncut blank, so I couldn’t use it to get into the car either. Luckily I was near a campground, so I was able to get help without too much trouble. As it turned out, the battery on the fob and on the Jeep had died simultaneously. This took a while to figure out, but eventually I combined a jump start with a borrowed fob battery to get the Jeep unlocked and running. A real freak incident that would have been a bigger deal if I’d been in a more remote part of the preserve.

Photography is a great motivator to get myself out of my comfort zone and into new experiences I wouldn’t otherwise try. While I enjoy pushing myself, I’m keenly aware that I’m relatively inexperienced in the outdoors. When that nagging voice in my head lets me know I’m getting in over my head, I always listen. While I had gallons and gallons of water, days of food, and high quality shelter, dealing with an unreliable Jeep in a vast and mostly empty desert was more than I was prepared to handle. So, I drove back to the campsite, left the Jeep idling to make sure I wouldn’t need a jumpstart at my much more remote campsite, packed up, and then drove back to civilization.

While the trip didn’t turn out quite how I’d hoped, it was overall a success. I made it for two nights in the desert, built valuable experience with backpacking-style camping, found some great photography spots, and added a few good shots to my portfolio.

I also wrote a post focused more on the camping logistics at Mojave National Preserve.

#CactusWren #MojaveNationalPreserve #RockWren

#BirdMaxxing: 1 bird/hour until 11/11 🤖
Rock Wren, 14th November 2022
Tucson Mountain Park, Old Tucson, Arizona
Canon EOS R5, Canon 800mm f/11, 20% crop, 1/250s, ISO 125
#Birds #RockWren #VoteBlueForBirds

Rock Wren on a Rock: https://jacquesfortierart.com/2024/01/22/rock-wren-on-a-rock/

Rock Wren: https://jacquesfortierart.com/2023/12/19/rock-wren/

Rock Wren surveying its territory, a kingdom of sharp volcanic rock, twisted sagebrush snags, and nearly phosphorescent lichen. Nevada at it’s finest! #BirdPhotography #photography #BirdsOfMastodon #nevada #rockwren #WildlifePhotography

A few shots from some of my favorite subjects that I managed to catch in between snow squalls this morning. Rock Wren! #birding #BirdPhotography #photography #BirdsOfMastodon #rockwren

I can’t wait for the spring to bring the thaw, when the lichen burst to life and the Rock Wren begin to sing their 100 songs. #photography #WildlifePhotography #birding #rockwren