Photo 1 (above): Boreal Chickadee, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario. Canon EOS 1D mark IV; 500mm/4 lens & 1.4x; 580EX fill flash at -1 2/3; ISO 800, 1/125s @ f/5.6
Boreal Chickadee has been on my photo wish-list for more than a decade. I've tried to call the shy and secretive species in for photos, but my best efforts had only resulted in shots of blurry blobs hidden behind branches. So when I read a bird report last week about several Boreal Chickadees coming in to a new suet feeder in Algonquin Provincial Park, I packed my gear and headed to the park. The birds were more cooperative than I ever could have hoped for. Over the past two days, I shot hundreds and hundreds of photos of the chickadees. Bird photography bliss!
To make things even more exciting, an American Marten dropped in for a visit to the suet. It's not often that I end up shooting two new species for my collection in one day.... well worth standing around in a cold, damp spruce bog!
Photo 2 (above) American (Pine) Marten, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario
Canon EOS 1D mark IV; 500mm/4 lens; ISO 640, 1/250s @ f/4
There were a few flocks of Common Repolls coming to birdseed at other locations in the park, so I put up a platform feeder setup (on a spare tripod) with a snowy spruce branch as a perch and enjoyed some great finch shooting! The birds were so close and approachable, I was shooting full framers with a Sigma 300/2.8 lens.
Photo 3 (above): Common Redpoll on spruce, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario
Canon EOS 1D mark IV, Sigma 300/2.8 lens; 580EXII flash at - 2 1/3; ISO 400; 1/250s @ f/4
I always try to end my day at a scenic spot to photograph sunset. Thankfully picturesque lakes are in abundance along Highway 60 in Algonquin Park. In the last light of day, I ran onto the snowy lake and made a snow angel for the photo. Using a Canon TC-80N3 remote time, I set it to shoot an image every 10 seconds, allowing me to be my own snowy supermodel. What fun!
Photo 4 (above): Self-portrait making snow angel, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario
Canon EOS 5D mark II; Sigma 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer and 3 stop reverse ND grad; ISO 400; 1/10s @ f/20; Canon TC-80N3 remote timer
