{"id":219,"date":"2021-01-03T23:59:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T23:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/?p=219"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:03:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:03:02","slug":"2020-12-13-blog-post-snowy-weekend-after-the-snowfall-12132020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/?p=219","title":{"rendered":"Blog Post – Snowy weekend, after the snowfall 12\/13\/2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hey if you\u2019re reading this here on my website, it\u2019s been available on my Patreon for over a week. Get advanced access before the general public and help support me.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/Qwoft<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Took a day off since the snow had freshly fallen over Friday, wanted to give it a day before I tried going back out. In case the roads turned slick with the low temperatures. Plus I do still want a day off for whatever each weekend. Between the half days of wildlife searches and a 40 hour work week, I\u2019m pretty tired by the time I hit the pillow each night.<\/p>\n

This time out I got there just before sunrise, as I didn\u2019t try and squeeze in any video gaming or vlogging attempts before heading out. Fully waiting for a new compact and easier to record camera for me to start taking it with me and doing vlogs while I\u2019m out and about. Hopefully that happens soon.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to go as light as I can, rather than haul around so much stuff it weighs me down and makes me want to leave sooner. Just a bag with the essentials, tripod with a photography gimbal head and of course the camera and lens. <\/p>\n

Just that and about 5 layers. Been learning what it takes to survive in the cold. Base layer of some skin tight almost spandex like material that is purpose built for wicking away sweat. Then the thermals to retain heat. Couple more layers and the outermost is the snow stuff. Unfortunately noisy which is not ideal when trying to remain stealthy and get close to wildlife without spooking. But that\u2019s what I got so far. I kind of doubt there is the same kind of water resistant material that retains heat like a thick puffy snow outfit. But while also being silent. <\/p>\n

Have to do more research.<\/p>\n

So fully bundled up I headed out around the lake. First thing I saw was more plump Robins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I quite like this next one. Even though the head is turned and looks a little weird at this angle, the colors are really nice how the nature lit up with that early golden hour sun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I did also turn and look across the lake as the sun was rising. Looking almost directly at the sun, but I did see a bird shape way off in the distance flying away from a tree. And since I was already looking that way through the lens, snapped this picture of the tree.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Orange is a favorite color of my by far. And the gradient of the sunrise behind it, just seems cool to me.<\/p>\n

The next picture I like was some more landscape, which is always interesting to do through such a long lens. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Just a nice scene of the frozen chunks in the water. Couple Geese out there surviving the cold. Get some interesting shadows because of the sun rising. <\/p>\n

It was after this when I spotted what I was hoping to see, more of the Northern Flickers. My new favorite obsession. However they were pretty far from me, and the shots I was getting had a lot of interference. Branches in the way, sun directly behind them. Just not great. So I walked on a bit, came around a bend and came back from the opposite angle, hoping to get the sun at my back now and properly light up the subject.<\/p>\n

By the time I got over there, the Northern Flickers had moved of course. So I waited around a bit, took a drink of water. Just being patient, hoping they would come back to the trees they were eating out of that I was in a much better spot to get a picture of.
However something else caught my eye, many somethings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I\u2019m honestly not sure what I was seeing. Doesn\u2019t quite match anything in the bird book that I\u2019m looking at. Round little black birds with lots of white spots. Maybe a starling? But the one I\u2019ve seen before was very different. Obviously it\u2019s hard to judge with the shape since I\u2019ve clearly proven to myself that birds really fatten up for the winter. Just look at some of the pictures I\u2019ve taken of Robins during the spring and summer and compare it to those in the winter. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The images aren\u2019t that great, I didn\u2019t get any closer to investigate. I was just turned looking at them, but didn\u2019t move from my spot to watch for the Northern Flickers. Another time perhaps. <\/p>\n

After waiting a while however, I went up the hill I was basically hiding behind and shooting over the top of, looked out over the frozen lake and right where I had been maybe 20 minutes before in the treeline… Northern Flickers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They almost entirely blend in to these trees during winter. And they quite like to eat those seeds off the branches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Didn\u2019t crop in as much on the above one, but you can see there is a second one in those branches there. Doing the thing that I would expect from a member of the woodpecker family, perching vertically to a tree trunk.<\/p>\n

Now they weren\u2019t digging into the tree for bugs, but I did see that beak in action in the next series of pictures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One in particular was digging into the ground, and rock area there at the water edge. Didn\u2019t witness them actually dig anything out to eat, but they were going at it. The others came and went nearby, almost like they were standing watch. <\/p>\n

This is nice, getting to see them out of a tree where you can see clearly. Not sure what else I could ask for\u2026
Oh wait. Yes I do. Turn that knob to another custom mode with a much much higher shutter speed and an autofocus area that isn\u2019t a pinpoint. Along with custom settings to detect fast motion and lock onto that for focusing. Etc etc.
Main point, I switched to another mode to try and get a shot of them in flight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ka- to the fucking-boom. <\/p>\n

Nailed it.<\/p>\n

That is just top notch to me. Beautiful spread of those wings, the color. Just excellent. Speaks for itself.<\/p>\n

cue the infomercial voice<\/strong>
But wait\u2026 there\u2019s more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Just\u2026 There are no words.<\/p>\n

I will say, these have all been excellent examples of the Red-Shafted Northern Flicker. But there exists another.
The Yellow-Shafted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Truthfully not the best example of the coloring considering the background is just so yellow with those dead reeds. But hey, I can\u2019t be picky. I managed to find both color variations to a fantastic bird in one weekend.<\/p>\n

That was definitely the highlight, I was fully hoping to see these guys again and I\u2019m really glad I went back out that second day. <\/p>\n

Few more photos to share though, another Robin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Got two of a crow, one in flight and the second as it was going in to land on the frozen lake to chow down on something it had grabbed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Technically this next one would be another new entry for the collection, but it\u2019s really not a great photo. I\u2019m fairly certain these are Common Goldeneye because of the wing color and the white spot on the face. But by the time I came around the bend and had the camera up they had spotted me already and were leaving.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I do have one last really good image to share. It was as I was heading back to the car, this squirrel and I shared a moment and I took a picture. We were fairly close, as you can tell by just how much detail there is. Even on the resized image to share with the blogs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I\u2019ll take that level of detail on all of my images please. <\/p>\n

And here\u2019s two more photos of significantly less detail as they were just quick and dirty with the phone. Which fully honest, not great for photos. Love it for so many other things. Which is great because that was the point. I was already planning one day that I\u2019ll get another more portable camera to take just general use photos instead of the phone. And the best part is the camera I\u2019ll be getting which is lightweight and small to use for vlogging, serves that purpose perfectly. It\u2019ll have wireless so I can snap a pic and throw it on the camera to share right quick. As long as I keep it with a charged battery on me at all times. Shouldn\u2019t have a problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s another successful wildlife weekend venture in the books. If weather looks better the next weekend it\u2019ll be back to video. Hopefully I\u2019ll be getting that new camera by the end of the year and start vlogging with it as well so you guys can come along.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey if you\u2019re reading this here on my website, it\u2019s been available on my Patreon for over a week. Get advanced access before the general public and help support me. https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/Qwoft Took a day off since the snow had freshly fallen over Friday, wanted to give it a day before I tried going back out. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-old-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}