I went up to northern Minnesota yesterday and had a banner first day of the year seeing my first boreal Chickadee's as well as Great Gray Owls, Northern Hawk Owls and many Common Redpolls, Grey Jays etc.
Anyways, I was very happy to be able to get these speed merchants in their element. :)
Nikon D300 ~ Nikkor 300mm F/2.8 with 1.4x TC
ISO 500 ~ F/4 ~ Fill flash at - 2 and synched at 1/250 sec.
Mike, a great perch and position to have the bird placed. The bird's head looks a bit soft to me but the body plumage is great. A fun species to encounter!
Thats funny that you were the first one to respond. I was just looking at one of your versions on the Cornell "All about birds" page taken in the Adirondacks. It looks like we are only a few people that have these birds available in the Continental US. :)
Mike I like the exposure of the bird, the BG and the mossy perch although some may find it a bit too much foliage for such a small bird.
Although I normally like snow in images like this the fact that there are only about 5-6 blurred flakes would temp me to clone them all out. As they are now they seem to stand out and tend to draw my eyes to them.
Mike, it's pretty exciting where I live to be in the woods and hear that different sound of the boreal vs. black-capped. Makes me feel like I'm in the far north. this bird, along with the black-backed woodpecker and spruce grouse, are the three most desirable breeding birds to find in the Adirondacks. We've got one thing you don't have in Minnesota . . .besides breeding in lowland spruce fir forests, these birds live in a separate habitat, the spruce fir zone on mountain tops above 3,500 feet.
Last edited by Jeff Nadler; 01-02-2009 at 02:17 PM.
So the question is... when am I visiting NY!!
The Boreal sounds like an asmatic BC chickadee doesn't he/she?
I was just thinking of chasing those Black backed and three toed WP's up north next weekend.
Its wierd when you encounter species unfamiliar with humans and show little or no fear as you approach them, kinda refreshing.
P.S. You guys have the elevation... we've got 15,000 lakes.
Boreal Chickadee
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