Crossbill action.

[JayinMN]

I found these grit pickers on a quick bog jaunt today.

[ShawnZ]

Oh man, I am jealous of these images sir!! Way to go, did you crawl for them? You look so close to ground level, heck I'd be impressed even if you said you only took a knee to get them. Great light for these as well. And by the way, for anyone who has not tried this kind of image, it's not just like you walk up and start taking pictures. To get in this range, you've got to be a bird whisperer, patience and luck help too. I've tried several times recently to get this type of image and everything from the light, the sound of the crunching snow, to jumpy birds, etc., it's hard to pull off this well, (especially with the focal length that I think you used.) Anyway, just thought I'd give you some props, awesome images.

[Steve Foss]

Nice work, Jason. Very cool when they let you get in close like that. I've never had that kind of luck on the roads, but pretty often when they are feeding on cones they've been tolerant of closer approaches.

[Dbl]

#3 and the last shot are just beauties! Great work!

[Jim Almquist]

Good stuff there Jason. There have been so many in the bog but they never seem to get out of the tops of the trees.

[JayinMN]

I was pretty pumped at how cooperative these guys were. I may have found the boldest group of cross bills in MN. The pictures were shot with a av10 iso 640, tv2500-3200 and focal lengths between 235-400mm. I was heading north on McDavitt and drove up on the flock and they flew into the pine trees as I passed them. Through the rear view mirror I could see they were already landing on the road again so I parked the car and headed out. I had to get south of them because the light was to their back so I walked slowly down the shoulder of the road till I got past them. Then I turned and started walking north till I got close enough to shoot, some were taken from on my knees and some from on my belly. They were landing everywhere around me and some were landing so close I couldn't even focus on them. I looked up and realized the loggers up the road were watching me like I was some weirdo laying in the middle of the road....

Unfortunately I had to leave the birds behind too soon because I had to be somewhere and was already going to be late.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Stunners!

[Birdsong]

These are really nice. No, REALLY NICE! More than frozen fingers to get these shots?

[ShawnZ]

Yes! you are the man, on your belly! You rock! The loggers were just clearly jealous that you were able to get so close to the crossbills. And by the way, if you find white winged crossbills feeding on cone seeds in trees, if you have time, like over an hour sometimes, just keep watching them, they always eventually come down to eat snow or grit, (if they don't fly off of course). Again, awesome shots Jay!

[Deitz Dittrich]

awesome picts.. second to last is my fave!!!

[finnbay]

Sweet shots, Jason! You've done a good job of getting the color correct on these. For some reason I find it difficult to do so with the crossbills.

[dockothebay]

These are really beautiful, Jay - I can't wait to see some with my own eyes on Saturday! And I'll be more than happy to lay on my belly to get images half this nice