Today our yard is covered with snow. Yesterday we had five Northern Flickers running around eating the bugs in the grass...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/250 sec at f/6.3. ISO 200. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

I spent the past couple mornings sitting out by our pond hoping to get some photos of some of the ducks that have been stopping in. Each time, there was very little action and I only got a couple fleeting photos and nothing very good due to poor light conditions and distance. I did come away with these two though...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/250 sec at f/5.6. ISO 10000. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/160 sec at f/8. ISO 1250. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

The first is a pair of Hooded Mergansers and the second is a male Wood Duck.

This last one is an absolutely horrible photo due to the high ISO needed and the long distance it was taken (and then heavily cropped), but I wanted to at least get a single shot of this white deer. I've been throwing out corn, so hopefully they'll come in closer some time when there is slightly better light. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it to come around again.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/13 sec at f/5.6. ISO 16000. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Let's hope I can get some more good opportunities with these elusive subjects.

- Bill

Ok - I know... no one wants to look at snow for a while - especially with the nice weather we've been having (which incidentally is why I haven't been posting as much because I started some yard work projects). Here's a couple more from visit we got from this deer last week.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/1000 sec at f/8. ISO 200. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 321mm with Canon Extender EF 1.4x III, 1/500 sec at f/11. ISO 400. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

I'm playing hooky from work tomorrow in the hopes of getting out and getting some photos, so hopefully I come back with something good to share.

- Bill

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 560mm with Canon Extender EF 1.4x III, 1/320 sec at f/1. ISO 400. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

So it looks like, given the right conditions, I can indeed get some good results with the 1.4x teleconverter. I do have a bit more of a challenge with composition, but more on that later.

- Bill

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/160 sec at f/11. ISO 400. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw

- Bill

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/400 sec at f/11. ISO 800. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw

- Bill

Another from when we were seeing the Greater White-fronted Geese stopping by in the fields next to our house. I tried to sneak up on them as slowly and quietly as I could. But both times, they took flight without warning. The second time, I was a bit more prepared to fire off a couple shots of them taking wing...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/400 sec at f/8. ISO 800. IS Mode 1. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw

We haven't seen them for several days, so I assume they have continued on their migration. It was still cool getting to see them when we did.

- Bill

A week or so ago, our yard was covered in at least one hundred robins... this week, it is covered with a foot a snow. I've always known robins generally prefer to eat worms and insects, but what I didn't learn is that they will also eat fruit... and apparently sumac fruit is one of their favorites... and I also learned that those red clusters on the ends of our sumac trees is indeed its edible fruit.

So anyway, with snow covering any chance for worms or bugs, I managed to photograph a couple robins making due with sumac fruit until the weather gets warmer again.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/1000 sec at f/8. ISO 800. IS Mode 1. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/800 sec at f/8. ISO 800. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw

- Bill

So we've seen the Greater White-fronted Geese everyday for the past four days. Thankfully, they haven't been too deterred by me scaring them off twice, but they certainly didn't allow me to get any closer. I did get this shot the second time I tried though...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/640 sec at f/8. ISO 800. IS Mode 1. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

Ok - so the question of whether the Greater White-fronted Geese (see the next post down) would be back has been answered as I've seen them both yesterday and today (and have a few more photos baking as I type this). But for now, I'm going to bounce back to some photos I took before I saw the geese.

This chickadee was shot at Jennings Environmental Center during a short hike Anya and I took last week for my birthday. I felt the B&W conversion helped to draw out some more of the detail (mouseover the image for the color version).

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm, 1/120 sec at f/8. ISO 800. IS Mode 1. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw, B&W conversion in Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Despite mentioning that I should get back to some other forms of photography, I have a stack of bird photos to share, so stop back for more soon!

- Bill