The deep snow and bitter cold has made life hard for wildlife. Within hours of the first snowfall the number of birds visiting the feeders in the garden soared and the amount of food consumed each day soon tripled. Animals have become tamer too and start to watch out for food arriving. The rabbit in the picture appears as soon as I go outside and comes within a few feet of me to feed. The pheasants come running on seeing me too. Ground feeding birds like robins and dunnocks make mostly futile attempts to hang on the feeders. That's one reason I scatter some food on the snow each day. Then the small birds have to dart in and grab seeds before the rabbits and pheasants gobble them up.
These photos were all taken handheld through windows with the Canon 450D and 55-250 zoom lens on 400 ISO.
Great pics - especially the woodpecker. When we had our freeze the most important thing was to keep the hummingbird food thawed - had to bring it in at night. There is one species of hummingbird that overwinters here, but a freeze is really hard on them.
ReplyDeleteHey Chris,
ReplyDeleteLove those wildlife shots! Regarding your TGO trip reports on the PNT, being in the USA the magazine is not readily available. Any chance you might be publishing more detailed accounts in a book or blog? I've read your TGO website accounts and they're wonderful.
Walt from CA
Hi Walt, thanks for your comments on my pictures and writing. The trip reports in TGO are the same as the ones on the TGO website. I hope to publish much more detail in a book but I don't have a publisher yet.
ReplyDeleteThat will be something to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteGood luck finding a publisher.
Great pix, BTW.