LittleRed

Tis 3 in the afternoon, crystal clear with a brisk easterly wind, temperature minus 27 degrees centigrade (minus 17 degrees fahrenheit) and falling. Forcasted to be about minus 35 centrigrade tonight (about minus 31 fahrenheit). These hardy characters showed up this afternoon to beef up on the black oil sunflower seeds and peanut butter suet. Tonight I hope they will be tucked away somewhere that will provide protection from what will be the coldest night of the year sofar.
And dang it, tonight is the blood moon eclipse with a clear sky. Hopefully the moon will be easily seen from one of my windows so that I can at least get some sort of shot.

LittleRed (Ron)

PS - Sorry for the poorer quality of the pics. Were shot through a double pane window, twasn't even considering opening one at that temperature. The Junco and Chickadee were well cropped due to distance the birds were from my window. The Shrike is doubly poor as its location was very difficult to see and get a good pic from my kitchen window.

American Goldfinch

(Download)

Common Redpoll (female)

(Download)

Downy Woodpecker (female)

(Download)

Mourning Dove

(Download)

Red-bellied Woodpecker (male)

(Download)

Dark-Eyed (Slate-coloured) Junco

(Download)

Black-capped Chickadee

(Download)

Northern Shrike (mini hawk, hunter of songbirds)

(Download)

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Really beautiful. Awesome captures. If that were me, you could see my breath. Definitely need gloves!!

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Cool set (pun intended)!

LittleRed

Thanks Scruples for looking and the kind comments. As for gloves, they at that temperature are basically pretty useless to keep the hands warm. One must use mitts where the fingers are not separated so they can help keep each other warm.

LittleRed (Ron)

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I have two pairs. One pair great for keeping the camera from falling out of my frozen digits. The second pair keeps my stubby little nubs from falling off. As for a pair that does both HA!

LittleRed

Thanks for looking in Mike. Fraid cool is a bit of an understatement when the temperature drops to these levels. One doesn't realize how cold it can be until you start loading the bird feeders without mitts.

LittleRed (Ron)

Salo Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Where are you? Canada? Alaska?

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Too cold for this Cajun boy! Nice set. Where are you located?

ngrea Loc: Sandy Spring, Maryland

I remember one morning at -40(where c and f are the same) when the diesel in our car froze up because we didn’t realize that, in Germany, we needed to mix some gasoline with it at that temp.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Very good series LittleRed.

LittleRed

Yes, my abode is in the great white (frigid) north of Northern Ontario Canada. We are presently trapped in what is termed a Arctic Vortex by the weathermen. We just call it another regular coolish day in the north. In fact last night we had a bit of a warming trend for the eclipse. Twas suppposed to go to about -30 C but only made it to - 27 C at our place. But still too cold to venture outside with the camera. Instead just stayed inside and watched through the window. Am getting soft in my elder years. 😀😀
Anyways, thanks for stopping by.

LittleRed (Ron)

LittleRed

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. You Cajun's are hardier than you think as a majority of you can trace yourselves back to Acadia, which was a part of Canada in the 1600's. A lot of my "ancient" family (the Godet/Gaudet/Gaudette's) moved to Louisiana in the 1700's when they were kicked out of Canada by the British. While some of my family moved south my direct line moved west. But for a touch of fate/luck I could have been living in the warmth of the gulf coast rather than here in 3 feet of snow at - 25C.
As for my location see the information I just gave to a previous poster.

LittleRed (Ron)

LittleRed

Yes, at -40 there is no difference. This is a temperature we don't get as much as in years past. Maybe a couple of times a winter we will but usually just for short period. Not like the "good old days" of 30 years ago. At that time it wasn't unusual to go a full week where the high for the day didn't exceed -30F (this was before we went metric) and at nighttime considerably lower. Worked outside doing 10 - 12 hours shifts running survey lines in area such as the James Bay coast. Trick was work hard stay warm. During this time due to the problems you mention regarding diesels we only operated gasoline powered vehicles, which were a helluva lot easier to start.

LittleRed (Ron)

LittleRed

Thanks Earnest for stopping by and commenting. Tis appreciated.

LittleRed (Ron)

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Ron, at those temperatures, staying inside where it's warm is the best policy. We get cold up here in Alaska, but we certainly don't have a monopoly on cold weather. I don't go out to take pictures when it's cold like that, either. Well, I've taken lots of "mental" pictures, but haven't figured out a way to download them yet. LOL. For through-the-window shots, those are pretty darned nice. Thanks for sharing your fine feathered friends.