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A light snowfall, a pocket full of black oil sunflower seeds, bushes full of hungry chickadees…all the makings of a lovely day.
Eating like a bird translates into human terminology as eating like a lumberjack. A lot of energy is needed to support bird metabolisms and the miracle of flight costs. Cold weather means even more energy is needed. Snowfall possibly makes it more challenging to forage for food. On cold, snowy days, when a human walks into an area in which birds are used to being hand fed, if it (the human) DOESN’T offer food, it’s not unusual for said human to be noisily scolded. Fortunately for me, I was amply supplied.
The sun weakly poked its head out a few times, giving a lovely, soft light.
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As I was making my offering to the fluffy little feathered critters, I heard a camera start clicking away. A fellow with a DSLR had come down the path with his wife and apparently was fascinated by the activity. Time to share the love! I asked his wife if she would like to feed the birds and when she shyly nodded, I transferred a handful of seeds to her. Instantly, she became the new target and her husband happily started clicking away at a subject that meant more to him.
Diffuse sunlight in a gentle snowfall. This lighting didn’t last long enough.
It wasn’t only chickadees landing in my hand for seeds. A pair of nuthatches also made use of the opportunity, albeit more cautiously. The chickadees were being quite aggressive, and the nuthatches would hop around from branch to branch, looking for an opportunity to swoop in during brief pauses in the chickadee traffic.
Videos were shot with my iPhone. Photos were taken with a DSLR.