As we approach winter, birds in the wild have to work hard to find food. Yesterday I photographed this tiny Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, my local wildlife refuge as it worked to extract seeds from the spiky seed pods of a sweetgum tree.
Now that most of the insects are gone for the season, I have switched lenses on my camera. Although I usually have some additional lenses in my backpack when I am on my little photography expeditions, I generally tend to stick with the lens that is on my camera, During warmer months that tends to be a Tamron 18-400mm lens that has the flexibility to get wide angle shots in addition to close-up shots of insects, particularly dragonflies.
During the cold months, I use my Tamron 150-600mm lens, a longer telephoto zoom lens that gives me greater reach. This lens is quite heavy to hold for extended periods of time, so I normally use it with a monopod, as I was doing yesterday, to give me greater stability and hopefully sharper photos.
I am always amazed when I see chickadees hanging from these spiky seed balls. I realize that these birds don’t weigh much, but it’s hard to believe that they can hang from the same seed pod that they are working on.
I was thrilled to be able to capture this cool image of the chickadee in action, with the colorful foliage in the background giving it a real autumn vibe.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
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Mike Powell 