Photo Essay: Common Redpolls

Over Christmas, I had a chance to get better photos of the Common Redpolls at our big feeder. All the photo are taken with my Nikon D610 with the 200-500mm lens. The 36” feeder is so big that it barely fits in the camera frame, even at 200mm.

The feeder is filled with a mix of nyjer and sunflower chips which the birds empty in about two days. There are at least 40 redpolls visiting my feeders daily and it’s very entertaining watching them vie for position on the perches.

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Feathers on Friday & Merry Christmas!

If you would like to join me for my Feathers on Friday meme, please put the link to your blog post in the comments and I’ll add the link to my post.

Merry Christmas from Prairie Birder and all best wishes of the season!

The Common Redpoll numbers are ever increasing at my feeders, so I thought I’d share some more photos, DSC_1042

I truly apologize for this grainy photo, but I just wanted to share this shot of all the redpolls on my 36” Droll Yankees feeder. DSC_1073

More Feathers on Friday Posts:

Bird Boy

Birds in Your Backyard

The Cats and the Birds

Wolf Song Blog

Kathie’s Birds

JG Birds+

4forfeathers

Backyard Bird Blog

The Morning Side of Life

Feathers on Friday

If you would like to join me for my Feathers on Friday meme, please put the link to your blog post in the comments and I’ll add the link to my post.

After two years of seeing only a handful of Common Redpolls, that never stopped at my feeders, they have returned! For the past week, about 30 Common Redpolls have descended on my feeding station devouring the sunflower and nyjer seed.

I took this photo through our kitchen window with my Nikon D610 and 200-500mm lens,DSC_1036

More Feathers on Friday Posts:

Bird Boy

Birds in Your Backyard

The Cats and the Birds

Wolf Song Blog

Kathie’s Birds

JG Birds+

4forfeathers

Backyard Bird Blog

The Morning Side of Life

Photo Essay: A Snowy Owl

I had a chance to practice with my early Christmas present, a new Nikon 200-500mm lens, f/5.6, last Saturday. My subject was a beautiful male Snowy Owl just north of our farm, who was very accommodating and great for practice. Because the owl is so white, and the sky was very light too, I was really working on getting a good exposure.

The owl wasn’t too keen on looking straight at me, so I have only one photo of him looking directly at me. In all the others, he’s looking ahead or looking away.

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This photo is a little underexposed for my liking,DSC_0971

Because Snowy Owls are quite common in southern areas again this fall/winter, here are some tips from the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Ohio and Kaufman Field Guides for observing or photographing Snowy Owls:

SNOWtips

Feathers on Friday

If you would like to join me for my Feathers on Friday meme, please put the link to your blog post in the comments and I’ll add the link to my post.

Sorry for missing Feathers on Friday last week. Here’s photo of a Cedar Waxwing I took at the beginning of September,IMG_9598

More Feathers on Friday Posts:

Bird Boy

Birds in Your Backyard

The Cats and the Birds

Wolf Song Blog

Kathie’s Birds

JG Birds+

4forfeathers

Backyard Bird Blog

The Morning Side of Life

Backyard Bird Feeding: An Alberta Guide Winner!

After a random draw, congratulations to Aislinn, the winner of the holiday giveaway of an autographed copy of the new book, Backyard Bird Feeding: An Alberta Guide by Myrna Pearman!

Thank you to everyone who entered. And thank you to Myrna, of the Ellis Bird Farm, for providing the book and making the giveaway possible.

Happy birding/feeding with your new book, Aislinn!