It was a stormy afternoon and I went to the overlook at the Warbler Vista area of the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife refuge with hopes of shooting dramatic clouds. The overlook is high upon a ridge and it is covered, so I wasn’t worried much about the rain. It is kind of a muddy and rocky road up to the overlook, but it wasn’t too bad to drive. This is a nice place to catch a sunset on some evenings and I have even seen the Golden-Cheeked Warbler for who this area is named on one occasion. On this afternoon I mostly had the place to myself.
I shot a few pictures and as I did I heard a very loud chirping. I was hoping for another Golden-Cheeked Warbler, but it turned out to be a female cardinal in the trees nearby. She stayed around there chirping for quite a while in and out of the branches and I finally got her sited for a photo. A few minutes later I figured out what she was chirping for as her mate arrived. I didn’t get much of a shot of her mate as he stayed deep in the trees, but they had a quick conversation and left.
I did manage an image of two of the sky, like this image below with heavy rains on the left side of the picture over Lake Travis. I kind of like this view as I think that the highway curves go well with the curves in the lake.
For the most part the clouds were not nearly as dramatic as I had hoped. As the rains passed by, the sky began to transition to a more uniform gray. I probably edited these photos darker than usual as I wanted a gloomy and somewhat harsh look to them.
The rain stopped and I took a muddy hike not wanting to waste a trip out to the refuge. I didn’t really find anything to photograph on my hike, but I enjoyed it anyway.
Jason Frels 
I also like dark and foreboding clouds; but it looks like the sun was starting to peek through and ruin such a feeling 🙂
and the cardinal is my favorite bird; too bad the male stayed mostly hidden…
glad you enjoyed the hike…
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I like the bird photo. Birds can be very uncooperative, but sometimes they’ll pose long enough for a good snapshot. But you have to snap it quickly. That’s a cardinal rule.
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I had to perch and wait for her to be in the right spot and then the shutter flapping scared her away.
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That sounds flocked up.
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But did you take note on the fact that it was the Male bird who was uncooperative? 🙂
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Men don’t like to be photographed as we are not as vain as the females.
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…mmm…! Thats not the point I was making smart aleck! 🙂
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That’s only because men are not gullible.
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Who are you calling gullible?
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Uh, nobody. Sounds to me like someone is being self-conscious.
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If women weren’t gullible, the human species would have died out thousands of years ago.
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That’s true. The same would be true if men could think above the waist.
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😂
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Yeah, yeah…LOL! But hey I know now that cows don’t change colors as they get older!
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I am glad you are knowledgeable about cows now.
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Yes, you were so “helpful” in that area!
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I am always helpful with respect to cattle knowledge
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“No comment!” 😜
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Nope, not at all, was just curious. 😉
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Uh-huh.
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I like the dark, foreboding clouds, but I wouldn’t want to see them if I was out on the lake.
Cardinals are great birds to photograph, especially the male. I see he isn’t as cooperative as the female. Hmmm…. makes sense. LOL! I would like to see a Golden Warbler sometime.
Glad you enjoyed your hike.
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I have taken bad pictures of the warbler. They like to hide in the trees and they are not easy to shoot.
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Maybe one of them will be nice and cooperate for you sometime. You have to talk to it. 🙂
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I tried tweeting to it, but I don’t think it was on twitter.
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🙄
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Do you know when that sheltered overlook got built? I don’t remember it from the last time I was at Warbler Vista, which was years ago.
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I have never not seen it there, but I haven’t been going for more than 4 or 5 years
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Then it’s been at least that long since I was there the last time. I may have mentioned in a comment on an earlier post that the entrance road going uphill from 1431 wasn’t paved back then, either.
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It’s about half paved now, up to the parking lot with the toilet building. The rest is dirt/rock. That is mostly a 2nd gear drive for me.
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