The birds (images added)

[Steve Foss]

Hey all: More of today's work near Ely. This is a companion thread to "The beasts" over in the photo sharing board.

All grab shots (no setups) with Canon 30D and Canon 500 f4L IS, handheld and monopod.

Red crossbills

Red-breasted nuthatches

Pine grosbeak

Common redpolls

Black-capped chickadee

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Love the Redpolls!

[jaymevb]

great photos, i'm always amazed by the diversity there is up there

[Birdsong]

I love the red-breasted nutties--beautiful. I can't decide which of the three is my favorite.

[finnbay]

That 500 is a sweetie. I like the 2nd and 4th redpolls the best.

[Dbl]

You're going to hate sending that lens back, of course you always have finnbay rentals

[Steve Foss]

Hey you guys, the 500 is no sharper than my 400. I'll just keep telling myself that . . . as though the fact that it's true means anything. Who would believe an $1,100 lens is as good as a $5,800 lens, after all?

There's only one picture in the whole sequence I really think a lot of. Guesses?

[dockothebay]

The chickadee is my favorite - I love the environmental image. Such "common" little guys, but fascinating

[JayinMN]

I like the cross bills best. They are some pretty neat birds.

[Jim Almquist]

Great series of shots Steve but if I had to pick it would be the Redpolls.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, all.

I'll be adding images to this thread later. I got within point-blank range of feeding pine grosbeaks, red crossbills and white-winged crossbills, and got nice shots of gray jays, siskins and a chickadee in flight (the chickadee looked good on the camera LCD, but we'll see). Ravens in flight, too, and a pileated woodpecker.

You gotta love clear -24 mornings. When the sun hits the trees after sunrise, birds go from picking up grit on the roads and up into the trees to sun themselves, and most of the winter birds up here don't mind folks getting close enough for pictures.

Now it's back out to the woods for the afternoon to see what else might happen.

Sorry, didn't mean to tease.

[finnbay]

Steve,

You're going to wear the glass off the front end of that camera with all the shooting you're doing!

[micpic]

The Crossbills are a new one for me. Thanks for showing those.

Mic

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Quote:

There's only one picture in the whole sequence I really think a lot of. Guesses?

Your Avatar?

I would guess the last Redpoll. That one stands out to me because of the BG.

[Steve Foss]

Your Avatar?

[Steve Foss]

Here's the latest installment. All, like yesterday's, are grab shots, in that there are no setups here but simply working to happen upon birds in their natural habitat.

Not that setups are bad, not at all (I do a lot of setups myself). Just making a distinction.

Hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed freezing my cajones off getting them. Temps ranged from -24 this morning to a bit above zero this afternoon.

All with the Canon 30D and Canon 500 f4L IS, handheld.

Black-capped chickadee in flight

Gray jay chillin for sure!

Male hairy woodpecker roofin' it

Pine grosbeak hunkered down

Ravens plying the air currents

Pine siskin

And a bunch of white-winged crossbills

[finnbay]

Very nice, Steve! That chickadee in flight is fabulous!

[Jim Almquist]

Between the Chickadee in flight and the Pine Siskin WOW those are some sweet shots.

[Nymph]

That chickadee in flight is fantastic. I haven’t seen a bif shot like that on a chickadee before. Great work.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

That Siskin image is awesome.

I didn't know Siskins had such tremendous strength in their feet.

He almost has that deck screw turned out! Tough little Hombre!

[Dotch]

Always great shots but especially appreciate your posting the chickadees. Miss them eating out of my hand when filling the feeders.

[Steve Foss]

Dotch, no chickadees back at the ranch this winter?

As for the second installment of images, leaving out the chickadee in flight, there's only one image among all the rest that moved me, and it weren't the siskin.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Quote:

there's only one image among all the rest that moved me, and it weren't the siskin.

Pine Grosbeak?

[Steve Foss]

Nope. That upside down female white-winged crossbill. In my mind, I'd saved the best for last. Few birds are as effective contortionists as crossbills, and I've been working hard for five years to get decent images. They move so bloody fast that it's difficult to capture a good pose, even though they might strike 4,207 excellent poses in the space of one minute.

Just for the record, I did not rotate the image of that crossbill 90 degrees to make it look goofy. It was the actual capture.

[Dotch]

Dotch, no chickadees back at the ranch this winter?

Zero, zip, nada. And yet we've had lots of siskins which we've rarely seen and even one of the white-winged crossbills earlier in the season. Was like "Where's Waldo" trying to keep up with him mixed in with the house finches. If there was a female in there I couldn't find her. 6 - 8 regular 'dees last winter but none so far. Go figure.