- Purple Finch, Female
I thought I have shown it all for this winter season but there is still something new. A couple weeks ago I already thought that bird photography with great light from down below (because of the light bouncing from the snow on the ground) is no longer possible. Wrong! The winter with all its features has still a grip on us. Since we moved here to Eastern Iowa in 2004 we saw every winter a lot of Purple Finches dominating the feeders around the house. Not so much this year! There was only one single female that was present all the time together with the American Goldfinches and a huge flock of House Finches. We wondered if she was just not in good shape while the other Purple Finches moved further south last fall. Since about two weeks we see a lot more Purple Finches, mostly females. Yesterday Joan and I heard and saw the first Red Winged Blackbirds (for the locals: at Bergman Park, near Asbury, IA), usually a safe sign of the upcoming spring. To make a long story short, it is just great to see the seasonal changes while still keeping the advantage of the wintry light.
