Redpollarama
February 10th, 2011
Redpolls in Ottawa have burgeoned again. I was amazed and delighted by the sheer numbers of them at Shirley's Bay this afternoon, teeming around the three nyjer feeders. And so tame. They do startle easily--but return to feeding within seconds of the startle. I got hundreds of photos as the sun peeked in and out of the clouds. I'll share the best of them over the next few days.
The prizes, at least artistically, are the ones with significant amounts of red on their breasts. Right now they're a small minority. (There will be more of them as spring approaches.) So I was thrilled when I managed to get a quality portrait of this guy:
1680x1050 wallpaper
February 10th, 2011
Redpolls in Ottawa have burgeoned again. I was amazed and delighted by the sheer numbers of them at Shirley's Bay this afternoon, teeming around the three nyjer feeders. And so tame. They do startle easily--but return to feeding within seconds of the startle. I got hundreds of photos as the sun peeked in and out of the clouds. I'll share the best of them over the next few days.
The prizes, at least artistically, are the ones with significant amounts of red on their breasts. Right now they're a small minority. (There will be more of them as spring approaches.) So I was thrilled when I managed to get a quality portrait of this guy:
1680x1050 wallpaper
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Mike
February 11th, 2011 at 9:35 am
Cute look... he's letting you get his good side, I guess!
Gillian
February 11th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Very beautiful! I don't have any photos of them this year that aren't from the Hurdman feeder. What were the crowds like that day?
Suzanne
February 11th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
I was the only photographer for some time, believe it or not...this was early afternoon. The only other person stayed in their car. After about a half hour a few other photographers showed up, but there was never what you'd call a crowd.
The redpolls are also becoming very accustomed to people being close to them, so they're easy to photograph even for those of us with relatively short lenses.