• You are right. I dreamed of getting a shot like this with an adult male for years and when the scene unfolded I clicked away. Everything worked. I’ve had some luck closer to home in the past with males, which are never very numerous here (more females and immature males) but with nowhere near the result.

  • The only way this could have been improved is if the bird had been closer to home. When I first arrived at the residence where the bird was coming to feed I saw it in a spruce tree right beside my car. Perfect timing. After that I had to wait an hour for it to return.

  • This has become one of my favourite shots of these great birds. I fell in love with them in 2021 and was happy to get back to see another irruption. There are hundreds in the region based on the tracks that I saw although finding more than a dozen in a full day is an undertaking.