• Tuesday-What'sUP March 4 - 01:03 pm

This little finch has just a hint of yellow in its wing feathers and is otherwise heavily streaked. It's a year-round visitor to the U.P., where Frederic W. Koski recently snapped today's shots of a Pine Siskin. They're perfect inhabitants of the cold weather we have in the U.P., since they build their nests well insulated to keep their eggs warm. I imagine it must help them keep a bit warmer in the non-breeding months here UP North, too. But, when they do have eggs in the nest, the female incubates them constantly, leaving the nest only for brief amounts of time. While she's sitting on the nest, her mate searches for food and keeps her fed. That sure gives a new meaning to "breakfast in bed!"

Only problem is; everytime her mate comes back to the nest with food, she probably yells "cheap, cheap"!!

Talk about devotion......

Sweet little bird, and a smart one too....she has her mate well trained!

Talking about having a well trained mate, isn't that the ambition of every wife......... ;o) Easy, just kidding........FJL

Those are some great bird photos. I always have a tough time getting close enough without scaring them! (Go check out Frederic's album if you haven't, he has more very good closeups of local birds).

Taylor tried to get pictures in the window but even that way we scare them.

I'd like to know how long a lense he used to get these. I love to photograph birds but my longest lens it a 150 digital which translates to 300mm for a film camera.

Pete -- looking at the EXIF data in the photos (in Frederic's gallery), the focal length is listed as 149mm. That's crazy short for such a great photo, but I guess Frederic must be extremely quiet in the woods! :) (My 200mm -- equivalent of 300mm -- never seems to get me close enough. Maybe I'm just a noisy intruder though...)

D.Clark
if extender is on lens, won't show up in EXIF If not, I concur,great job either way

I have a "Bird Blind" set up for the backyard bird shots, using a 70-200mm or a 100mm lens. The Canon 40D has a 1.6x factor added in to the focal length.

Watch the birdee (lol). Cute pics.