Lots of snow and some grosbeaks

Posted by on December 25, 2012 in Blog | 2 comments

A few pine grosbeaks came by today. As usual this time of year there is very little light, and it only lasts a few hours. I ran out on the porch and shot some 50 frames. A few came out descent.

Pine Grosbeak (Tallbit), Canon 1d Mark III, 300 f/2.8 IS @420 mm, ISO 2500, f/4, 1/640 s.

 

Pine Grosbeak (Tallbit), Canon 1d Mark III, 300 f/2.8 IS @420 mm, ISO 2500, f/4, 1/640 s.

I like the colors of these birds and they behave almost like parrots, that means using their feet and beak a lot.

Pine Grosbeak (Tallbit), Canon 1d Mark III, 300 f/2.8 IS @420 mm, ISO 2500, f/4, 1/640 s.

 

They are not common this far south (Umeå), since they thrive in taiga and preferably old spruce forests. Yeah I know, it doesn’t rime well with its name, but it  primarily feeds on berries, spruce- and birch buds. Not a very shy bird, that is sometimes called a silly idiot “Dumsnut” because its lack of flight instincts. There is a natural explanation for that behavior . Some times they feast on frozen rowan berries that has fermented and thus contains small amounts of alcohol. So they simply get drunk and therefore don’t react very fast. All good things from a photographic perspective =)

That’s all for now!

/Sven

 

2 Comments

  1. Kul bild där tallbiten tar ett språng efter nästa gren med rönnbär!

  2. Tack! Det är en av sakerna som är bra med en en kamera som kan ta 10 bilder/s.

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