Winter has got its cold grip on Sweden at the moment. Even here in the south where we usually don’t get much snow, temperatures have been well below zero, the landscape is white and all the lakes are covered with ice.
The water in the pool at my hide “Waterworld” is frozen now and no birds will be able to drink at “Iceworld” for a while. I therefore am trying to attract small birds to the hide. Sunflower seeds, peanuts and apples do the trick and many forest species come by for a snack or two.
Yesterday, I tried to photograph birds in the snow from the hide for the first time. The opportunities at the hide are excellent. By using the low camera-openings in the hide, you get the birds at eye-level. Being at eye-level with an animal adds a certain “closeness” to the photographs. By photographing just above the snow, one can eliminate almost all disturbing elements of the foreground and of the background. The background turns out being almost entirely white and the images look like paintings. A bit kitschy, you may think? Perhaps it is but it is still special and beautiful, a bit different than most photographs of songbirds and almost postcard-like.
Well, here are some of the images from yesterday. Some of the typical forest and garden birds came to feed on the seeds. Great, Blue and Marsh Tits, Bramblings and Chaffinches as well as European Robins and Blackbirds come for a visit.
All bird photographs were taken with Canon EOS 7D, 4/500 IS at f5.6, 1/400s and ISO 320 and a bean bag.
A beautiful European Robin.
Chaffinch working hard on a sunflower seed.
Brambling.
Great Tit.
“Waterworld” has turned into “Iceworld”. Sunflower seeds, peanuts and apples attract Great, Blue and Marsh Tits, Bramblings and Chaffinches as well as Robins and Blackbirds. The photographs are taken at a low angle from the hide opening down to the right.