Birding Wire

BACKYARD BIRDING

So often, we are satisfied with “close” looks at the birds that visit our feeders and birdbath close to our favorite window, but regardless of how close a view you have, try taking an even closer look – with binoculars. Try it once and you will be hooked at viewing birds at your feeders and bird bath with binoculars. If you already use your binoculars at home, you know what a difference it makes to view a bird perched at a feeder at 8x magnification! That’s especially true when it’s a new visitor to arrive at a feeder during late fall and early winter – or even a new bird you haven’t seen in your yard before.

BIRDING NEWS 1

Audubon’s 126th Christmas Bird Count

Audubon's 126th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will be held during one day between December 14 and January 5, leaving it up to the count compiler that organizes the local count circles across the country to pick the magic day for the CBC in each location. That day birders and anyone interested can join in to help identify and count all birds with the count circle. Count locations are spread out across the Western Hemisphere, stretching from Canada and the United States to Mexico thru Panama, the Caribbean Isles, and South America from Colombia to Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, and beyond.

BIRDING NEWS 2

The Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy Courses

The Bird Academy at the Cornell Lab has reduced the price on every self-paced, online course about birds and birding. Whether you're just discovering the joys of birding, enthusiastic about bird identification, or curious about bird behaviors and adaptations, there is a Bird Academy course available for you, now at a discount. Whether you are most interested in specific groups of birds – raptors, waterfowl, warblers, and more; want to improve your ID skills, bird photography, or artwork; or if you are looking for how you can expand your beginning birding skills and activities, there’s a Bird Academy course for you.

EDITOR AFIELD

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Mowing lawn one day, shoveling snow the next; and 3 days later I was shoveling again as the temperature dipped into the teens for a high Saturday that seemed to be the last straw for the geese migrating high overhead, directly south, flock after flock. There was 10 inches of snow and only one lake remained ice-free. Even so, at least 3 huge Snow Goose flocks persisted relatively close to home, along with a few small flocks of Canada Geese numbering 25 or less – until Saturday night, when I heard what turned out to be the last geese migrating overhead from inside my warm home.

GEAR

New Swarovski Handheld Spotting Scopes!

The exciting new AT Balance and ST Balance Spotting Scopes are not just 2 new models by Swarovski, but they represent a new generation of spotting scopes that lead the industry in innovation, technology, and usefulness! The 2 new Balance Spotting Scopes are the first hand-held spotting scopes, possible through Swarovski’s innovative, cutting-edge image stabilization technology that delivers ultra-sharp views without a cumbersome tripod. Whether you want to see the crucial details on a distant bird or just confirm an identification, the AT and ST Balance Spotting Scopes give you handheld clarity, without the shake.

PRODUCTS 1

Woodpecker – The New Book by Paul Bannick

A Year in the Life of North American Woodpeckers is described and illustrated in a most impressive fashion in the new book simply named Woodpecker, by Paul Bannick, an award-winning author and photographer. Woodpeckers are one of the most remarkable families of birds in the world, and this new publication underlines that fact in a variety of ways, including the diversity and uniqueness of each species. Woodpeckers have evolved in ways that make them ecologically critical to the health of the forests where they live, serving as keystone species in a variety of wooded habitats across North America. Woodpeckers are, in many ways, the heartbeat of the forest.

PRODUCTS 2

The Owl & Woodpecker Calendar 2026

While you’re at it, take a look at Mountaineers Books’ newest 12-month calendar for 2026, The Owl & Woodpecker Calendar, which highlights colorful photographs of 6 different species of owls and 6 woodpeckers. The perfect gift for birders, this unique calendar includes dates of owl and woodpecker festivals and bird conservation events. Also created with award-winning photographer Paul Bannick, enjoy intimate views of fledgling owls, dynamic photos of active woodpeckers, and stunning portraits of these keystone bird families throughout the year.

BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY

The Big Change

It happens every fall in my neighborhood of Dakotaland; thousands of geese populate nearby lakes and adjacent harvested cornfields for the weeks before the Big Freeze, a time of plenty for birders like me to enjoy the remarkable numbers and variety of waterfowl and other birds. This year the late season was extended about 2 weeks beyond the norm, always a joy, but inevitably an ultra-cold Alberta clipper storm system blows in from the northwest and overnight we get a blizzard that defines the beginning of winter. And that happened last Tuesday as I was in the process of publishing last week’s issue of The Birding Wire.

Searching for corn kernels below the newly fallen snow, a momentarily alerted flock provided one of the last looks at the Snow Geese of 2025. Clear morning sunlight provided perfect color reproduction a few miles from home on the way to Thanksgiving festivities (450mm zoom lens, f-11 aperture, 1/4000 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

Extremes of deep snow and frozen wetlands pushed the geese south in an abrupt and hurried fashion. It’s an interesting period to witness, and like all things where extreme weather and birds interplay, the results are different every year. Now, a week later, after the last flocks of Snow Geese were migrating high overhead in a due south direction, I want to share a few of the photos I took of flocks of geese on both sides of that very immediate and extreme weather transition, after the snowfall and deep freeze, and before the defining blizzard.

An f-11 aperture provided a broader area in focus to show a larger portion of the feeding flock that returned only one more day before being pressed southward by a second snowstorm with even colder temperatures. Did you pick out the Ross’s Goose positioned just right of center in this image? (350mm zoom lens, f-11 aperture, 1/2500 shutter speed, 800 ISO.)

Trying to keep as many geese in focus as possible, I dialed the aperture to f-14 as small flocks took flight to join others for an afternoon feeding bout (600mm zoom lens, f-14 aperture, 1/1250 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

A diversity of Snow Goose plumages is evident among the adults and juveniles resting in prime mid-afternoon sunlight 3 days before the deep freeze would begin (600mm zoom lens, f-14 aperture, 1/1000 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

The final morning of November revealed only portions of ice-free water on the last lake open for waterfowl, which held many more Tundra Swans than geese – a first for the region. A mix of bright morning sunlight that turned the sky a lighter shade of blue and the reflection of sunlight from the snow and ice below created an especially bright view and photograph of Tundra Swans that flew overhead (600mm zoom lens, f-7 aperture, 1/4000 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

Late Sunday morning, the last big lake that still had sections of open water was mostly covered with ice, and to my surprise it was primarily populated by swans, standing on the ice or swimming behind a light veil of rising steam, with their unique calls emanating lightly from within. From that ethereal view flew small flocks of the big white swans, catching the morning light and surrounded by the brightest light-blue sky. A significant flock of Tundra Swans flew directly toward me before swinging broadside above my standing position in the crisp 6 degree morning freeze. Almost 40 Tundra Swans swept their wings as elegantly as only swans can in a performance of beauty and splendor, as if to mark the last day of open water in my memory. The first day of December would find the lake’s surface closed for swimming by a cover of ice – and the last swans escaped via the winter-blue sky.

Article and Photographs by Paul Konrad

Share your bird photos and birding experiences at editorstbw2@gmail.com

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