Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, December 2025 — You don’t (or at least I don’t) realize how small a bird the chickadee is until you try to photograph one. Of the birds coming to our deck in winter, they are by far the smallest (it might be a close run thing between the chickadee and the Red-breasted Nuthatch, but I have not seen one of those for months). Smaller in the frame than a Carolina Wren, smaller than a White-breasted Nuthatch, smaller than a Goldfinch even, and less than half the size of a Bluebird. But what they lack in size, they make up for in personality and boldness. They will come to the feeders while I am out on the deck filling them, and they are well known for learning to eat from human hands. And they are so perky! So full of energy and life. A delight to watch and study. And always fun to photograph. Here again, we have a non-standard composition and pose, placing the bird on the upper rule-of-thirds horizon and the eye at the intersection of the upright on the right…looking out of frame but slightly forward. The composition was created, of course, by cropping in from the full frame. And again, I wanted to include enough of the clumped snow for atmosphere. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 (my “just for fun lens”) at 422mm equivalent field of view. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. +1.3EV exposure compensation for backlight against the snowy background. Processed in Photomator.