With a vengeance. There was well over 8 inches of snow piled up on the deck railings, feeding stations, and table when I went out to clear it this morning, and it’s still coming down. Click for full size.
Snow is pretty, but eight inches around here would shut everything down indefinitely. Fortunately, we are still scheduled for 60 degrees (F) today, and even warmer later in the week.
chigau (ever-elliptical)says
No snow at all, here.
And it’s a couple degrees above freezing.
Thank you very much! I have a Nikon D90, and the lens I use for bird shots is a 70-300mm. I’m generally shooting at 300, and I’m very close to my subjects. My front windows open right onto the deck, where the feeding stations are, and there’s one huge pine tree to the side of the deck, and another at the front. That provides a lot of shelter, and ease onto the deck itself. When I’m at the window, I’m anywhere from 7 to 25 feet from the birds. When I can, I shoot with the window open, which requires more patience, because the birds are more wary.
Outside of that, it’s just being patient, and still. You have to restrict your movements, and use micromovements when it comes to moving the camera, adjusting the lens, and so on. Shooting during storms and in very cold weather is generally easier, because the birds need food, and they don’t tend to give a fuck about my presence. Overall, they don’t worry about me much, or the shutter noise, and a number of them will come and start eating while I’m still putting food out.
If you can set up a situation where you are fairly close to them, you don’t need really big glass. Not that I wouldn’t love really big glass, but that’s out of my league.
There are new bird photos every morning (The Daily Bird), so I hope you stop by again. Also, if you have photos you’d like to share, please send them -- my email is on the sidebar.
As a fellow North Dakotan, I can say Bismarck looks much the same. Glad I finally got a snow blower.
Hi! Being rural, we just let it pile up, and slog our way through to the car and stuff. I kept wondering about the snow being so late, but at least we are getting snow this year, so there will be water come Spring. Be careful, and don’t get buried by the white stuff.
rqsays
Got a bit of snow back here, too -- it’ll be gone tomorrow, then the day after more freezing weather. The usual winter stuff.
I like the woodpecker.
Ice Swimmersays
I, too love the woodpecker, both the way it fluffs up its feathers against the cold and the way it looks straight at the camera.
johnson catman says
Snow is pretty, but eight inches around here would shut everything down indefinitely. Fortunately, we are still scheduled for 60 degrees (F) today, and even warmer later in the week.
chigau (ever-elliptical) says
No snow at all, here.
And it’s a couple degrees above freezing.
Caine says
Right now, I’d rather have the snow, it’s a few degrees warmer. I’ll take any degree I can get, it’s been freezing cold. 20 F today, still snowing.
Ice Swimmer says
Snow is back here, also, after a little hiatus. Not much, but enough to make daylight feel like daylight, not twilight.
david says
The bird photos are stellar. Those aren’t easy to take. Can you comment on your technique?
Mark Jacobson says
As a fellow North Dakotan, I can say Bismarck looks much the same. Glad I finally got a snow blower.
Caine says
David @ 5:
Thank you very much! I have a Nikon D90, and the lens I use for bird shots is a 70-300mm. I’m generally shooting at 300, and I’m very close to my subjects. My front windows open right onto the deck, where the feeding stations are, and there’s one huge pine tree to the side of the deck, and another at the front. That provides a lot of shelter, and ease onto the deck itself. When I’m at the window, I’m anywhere from 7 to 25 feet from the birds. When I can, I shoot with the window open, which requires more patience, because the birds are more wary.
Outside of that, it’s just being patient, and still. You have to restrict your movements, and use micromovements when it comes to moving the camera, adjusting the lens, and so on. Shooting during storms and in very cold weather is generally easier, because the birds need food, and they don’t tend to give a fuck about my presence. Overall, they don’t worry about me much, or the shutter noise, and a number of them will come and start eating while I’m still putting food out.
If you can set up a situation where you are fairly close to them, you don’t need really big glass. Not that I wouldn’t love really big glass, but that’s out of my league.
There are new bird photos every morning (The Daily Bird), so I hope you stop by again. Also, if you have photos you’d like to share, please send them -- my email is on the sidebar.
Caine says
Mark @ 6:
Hi! Being rural, we just let it pile up, and slog our way through to the car and stuff. I kept wondering about the snow being so late, but at least we are getting snow this year, so there will be water come Spring. Be careful, and don’t get buried by the white stuff.
rq says
Got a bit of snow back here, too -- it’ll be gone tomorrow, then the day after more freezing weather. The usual winter stuff.
I like the woodpecker.
Ice Swimmer says
I, too love the woodpecker, both the way it fluffs up its feathers against the cold and the way it looks straight at the camera.