It's the time of the year when the ponds have frozen over, driving most waterfowl farther in to the river and out of photographic range, and winter finches have yet to arrive in good numbers. This is the perfect time to catch up to our resident birds, the otherwise forgotten ones. Here locally Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers (as well as some others) fall into this category.
Chickadees and Nuthatches in particular are always seemingly happy to accompany us along the quiet woods, patiently waiting for handouts - especially in local nature trails where they are habituated to human presence. The good thing about phographing them is that they are easy to lure onto set-up perches with pleasing backgrounds and good light (and its angle). Here, just below the frame, is a small bag of black-oil sunflower seeds that these birds just love and flock around to inspect and eat.
Canon 40D + 100-400L at 400mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/500s., f/6.3, ISO 800, no EC. Small crop for comp.







Reply With Quote


