winter snack

This mountain chickadee holds a sunflower kernel between its feet while it eats.

Mountain Chickadee: Wintering Close to Home

The little mountain chickadee is often a photographic subject for me in winter. This one posed for a portrait view behind a rail covered with snow. Then, it perched on the feeder hook as the little nutchatches often do. The mountain chickadees seems comfortable with me and the camera as near as about 8 ft. Any closer and I send them flying into the nearby trees. Both of these images were captured with a 100 to 400 lens from about 10 feet.

I'm not really a birder, I just like the challenge of photographing them. I have to keep the field guides to birds at hand to look up any unfamiliar species. I also search for information about my feathered subjects online. In a recent search, I learned that the mountain chickadee stays only a short time near the nest where it hatched. It then moves to a new location and spends the rest of it's life there. No migrating away from winter weather for these little birds. No wonder they seem so appreciative of the seeds I put out for them.

pygmy nuthatch

The little pygmy nuthatches have been trying to empty the feeders around my house this week. In the image above, one rests for a moment on the hook that holds the feeder. 1/1250 second at f/5.6, focal length 320mm, ISO 400

The pygmy nuthatch above is sorting seeds. He tosses the ones he doesn't want over his head as he searches for the black sunflower seeds he loves. I'll have to fill a feeder with only black sunflower seeds! 1/640 second at f/5.6, focal length 400mm, ISO 400

Now here he is below with the prized seed. My, what big feet for such a small bird. The pygmy nuthatch is about 4 inches long from the tip of the tail to the tip of the beak. 1/1000 second at f/5.6, focal length 400mm, ISO 200

With more snow in the forecast, these little birds seem to be stocking up today. I know that some bird species hide a stash of seeds. At the rate the seed is leaving my feeders today, it wouldn't surprise me to find these birds hiding the seed somewhere. They seem too small to be eating it all.

mountain chickadee

This little bird rested for a moment in a small aspen near my deck. I had to photograph between the pickets on the railing. The soft look near the sides is actually the edge of the out-of-focus pickets. 1/320 second, f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 400