Redpoll, Acanthis flammea

Redpoll at a window feeder. This male has learned window glass is an invisible protective shield. I took this shot at about one foot, with a macro lens setting, and a flash, which didn't faze him! Anchorage, AK 1/1/2007

Redpoll, Acanthis flammea, drives its name from the bright red "cap" on the head. Only the males have the pink breast. 10X telephoto, Anchorage, AK 1/3/2007

Female Redpoll, note the breast color, no pink. Cropped from a 10X telephoto shot. Anchorage AK 1/1/2007

Those are awesome shots! And a beautiful (and, I imagine - cold LOL) bird! Even using a 10X telephoto lens - how do you get close enough to get that detail?

Redpoll, Acanthis flammea. On New Years day a large flock, of Redpolls, found my bird feeder, during a snow storm. Since then, this one male has been trying to claim the feeder, as his personal property. It is easy to take close up pictures of him at the window sill feeder, but they lack the aesthetic qualities, of a natural background. When he is in the tree, he will seldom sit still, long enough to focus the camera, before moving to the next branch . I only getting one or two good shots a day, out of dozens of attempts. I get some distortion shooting through the window glass. Cropped from 10X telephoto shot. Anchorage, AK 1/16/2007

Whoa! That is fantastic! Did you take all of these through a window?

ceejaytown
The birds land on the spruce tree, while waiting for a turn, at the bird feeder. I have the camera, on a tripod, sitting on the kitchen cupboard. It is about 6 to 10 feet to the parts of the spruce tree where I am able to get good shoots, through the window. I have taken hundred of digital shots since Jan. 1, and only kept 22 so fare. I'll attach one more with this reply. This one was cropped from 10X telephoto shot. Anchorage, AK 1/16/2007

wow oh wow what a pretty little birdie. Awesome pics!!!!

Beautiful birds! The male is a very beautiful bird with the pink on him. lol

Fantastic shots! Thanks for sharing your pics. Never saw Redpols before. You're one lucky birdwatcher!

Marilyn

Beautiful photos Grasmussen!! These are very sweet looking birds. I understand the frustration with having very few pics to save. It seems all I do is delete cardfuls of pics due to lack of light and movement. These ones you've gotten are great! Thanks so much for sharing them with us!

Great pics and welcome Grassmussen! What pretty specimens...
~Amy

Fabulous! I've never seen a Redpoll before either and those photos are gorgeous - Christmas card quality! I'm glad you have such patience, Grassmussen, and perseverance as well . . . there may be few that you feel are worth keeping, but those they are wonderful. What a treat for all of US!

Today I captured the sharpest closeup image yet, of a male Redpoll. I really have plenty of images, but they keep teasing me, by posing like this, out my kitchen window.

BEAUTIFUL pic Gras!!!

Oh my! That is just awesome!! Professional quality....I would be sooo excited!

Do you use a special telephoto lens, or just the one on the camera? Which camera? I am in awe of the quality.

That is astounding!!!!

ceejaytown:

I'm using an Olympus C-740 Ultra Zoom (wide angle to 10X optical zoom), but it's only 3.2 mega pixel. It takes pic's I never dreamed possible with a 35mm. But, I already want a better camera, at least 10 mega pixel.

This message was edited Jan 23, 2007 10:05 PM

that pic is just something else. Just perfect

Hi Gras, I have an Olympus C5060 wide zoom and like you I would like my next camera to have a lot more pixels too. I would also like the camera or the extra lens to have that anti shake feature. Although I really enjoy my Olympus I think I'll try for a Canon next time.

Grasmussen, that is an excellent photo of the Redpoll.

what an artistic quality of those photos, great job Grass !!!!!!

Grass, I keep coming back and looking at your photos of the Redpoll - and I think it's some of the finest photography I've seen. The details in the feathers, etc., that shows up is fantastic!

Waiting for more!!!

Obviously, the photographer is the major contributing factor here. But that is one fine camera! And 3.2 just means you can't print out a 12 X 16... and how many times do you want to do that? Well, with those pictures, maybe more often....

Yes, your right. Gras has a great eye!

ceejaytown:
I want to view them on my new 21" flat panel computer screen, without too much graininess, especially if I have copped a shot. (I crop a lot of shots to create better balance, and make them more artistically pleasing.) I use my best pic's as a slide show screen saver, so I intend to be viewing them as large pictures.

This is a nice shot of a female.

Beautiful!!! I love the background too.

Grasmussen - I understand what you mean. That's true, cropping improves the aesthetics of the picture, but reduces the number of pixels. And then when you blow it up - oops, the quality is less....

Gras, again a marvelous photo - I honestly get "butterflies in my stomach" when I see such a beautiful, detailed pic of the dear little bird.

I have a Sony SLR with 10 mega pixels and the anti-shake feature. I printed out some eagle photos that had been considerably cropped, then blown up and they turned out really good - so that pixel thing is true!! I definitely was not able to do that with my previous camera.