American Robin with winter berries.

I went out briefly yesterday when it finally warmed up into the double digits to look, among other things, for the flock of Robins that winter in Kennebunk to see if the Western Tanager is still with them. They were not in the neighborhood where they were a week ago when I went looking and did find the Tanager, but when I went down to Roger’s Pond to check on Eagles and ducks at the edge of the ice on the Mousam River, the whole flock was there. They were eating berries from an ornamental tree that grows near the picnic shelter. I am not sure what kind of tree it is, but it is heavy with clusters of red fruit that look a little like cherries. The Robins love them, but they are right at the limits of what a Robin can swallow whole. They hold them in their beaks for a few seconds, apparently getting up the courage to toss them up and catch when with their mouths open. When it works, the fruit goes down whole. It does not, apparently, work as often as the Robins would like. The whole flock was cycling in and out of this one tree, no bird sitting longer than it took to harvest a single fruit. The Tanager was not with them, that I saw, but I got some good shots of the Robins feeding. The early afternoon winter light was perfect. I know, it is only an American Robin, but in Maine, in winter, we can not be picky! And I think the shot stands well on its own on its compositional merits.

Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 500 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet. This shot shows the advantage of a small sensor super-zoom.  Notice the depth of field that has the bird, beak to feet, in focus at the same time. And yet it still produces effective bokeh in the background. 🙂