American Goldfinch
Nikon D800, Nikon 80-400mm VR lens @ 400mm, ISO 1250, f8 @ 1/125 sec.
Today I finally had time to get out into my insulated photo blind, complete with portable heater, for my winter songbird photography. A couple of days ago I found a tree that was adorned with berries, so I snipped off two small sections of branches that I could use as perches at my backyard set-up. Here are a few of the days best results. The activity today at the feeders was quite low due to the lack of snow on the ground. Once we get a good layer of snow on the ground the activity always increases dramatically. When there is very little snow on the ground the birds tend to ignore the feeder and forage around my property in search of other food sources, such as previously stored food caches or hibernating insects.
Please do click on each of the images to see the larger, sharper versions.
Hairy Woodpecker
Nikon D800, Nikon 80-400mm VR lens @ 400mm, ISO 1250, f8 @ 1/320 sec.
Black-capped Chickadee
Nikon D800, Nikon 80-400mm VR lens @ 400mm, ISO 1250, f8 @ 1/160 sec.
Andrew McLachlan 
Beautiful images Andrew, I’m glad you got to go out!
Thank you very much Denise!
Wonderful photos! That lens.. I want it 😉
You use the diagonal composition with the branches very well! The red berries are great with the green background. Your work to get this photos was worth the effort!
Thank you for sharing and kind regards,
Tieme
Thanks for the kind comments Tieme. I appreciate them very much!
Lovely images, all of them, but I find the color of the goldfinch really enhances the background colors in a way that causes the bird to stand out even more. Beautiful!
Thanks so much Katrina, I appreciate it very much 🙂
Very beautiful shots Andrew! I’m glad you got some activity there even if it was just a little bit!
Much appreciated Michael!
Great stuff, Andrew. I particularly like the shallow depth of field and gentle background. 🙂
Very much appreciated Frank!