First ever Snowy for Russell (121222)

Russell complained about the cold weather system that had moved in and wasn't to anxious about getting out on Saturday, so I set up a potential alternate arrangement with Dan.  Just an hour before I received confirmation from Dan, Russell decided that seeing these beautiful birds were worth the price of getting chilly. We headed out at 7:45 a.m. with breakfast in a bag. our dependable 8:30 bird was no where to be seen, but we did find a group of Mule deerthe the -21C frost still on thier backs. Russell had to wait an extra half hour before we found this cooperative bird. It has snowed over night the skies were heavy overcast, so light was at a premium.

Their were still a few sSnow Buntings in the area from last week, I suspect they were a different group of birds as the flock was much smaller.

Our next bird was pretty skittish, so any shots that I got were poor. Number 3 on the day was a little more cooperative. Here it is almost 9:30 and you can tell that the skies are still dull.

Although the quality of the light hasn't improved, there was a little more from timt to time and that encouraged me to grab the 2.0 TC and put it on. This fourth bird allowed me to move around and get a more front on shot of her (No crop).

So Russell had his day made and it wasn't even 10:00 a.m.! He decided it was worth a little bit of chill:)  As we swung by the area with Tim's first GHO from last week, we spied it in the trees, too far back to grab a shot .Next up was a large flock of Redpolls, well over a thousand I expect. Not too far from them was the first of two Prairie Falcons we spotted on the day, another first for Russell.
We spied him as he flew and saw where he landed on these fence posts.  we put an elaborate plan together in order to get closer, but it failed miserably. At -21C, the snow getts pretty noisey:)

Our second GHO of the day was a beautiful sighting, but it was too close to the road and when we tried to approach it took to the wing.

That is okay though, thisis the second time I have found him on this very same perch, so I know where he lives. The next up was a small flock of Redpolls, with one or two late leaver's, that allowed for some reasonably close shots (no crop).

We finished our day off with this small herd of elk, Or are they Reindeer;)

That wrapped up a rather successful day, and we were home just after noon.  From my home to yours all the best over this Holiday Season; Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Turbo