If you follow this blog you’ll know that I have had problems migrating from a PC to a Mac, especially as far as Adobe Lightroom is concerned.  I’m now hopeful that those problems are mostly behind me and that I can go back and post some of the photos I took early in the fall and start spending some time out in the field taking additional photos.  So here are some photos I took in the yard November 19, 2014 (pre-accipiter!).  If you didn’t see the raptor photos in the last post you might scroll down and take a peek.

Here are a few photos of Red crossbills.  I’m fairly certain this first one is a male…

This is where my identification skills get dicey… this may be a first-year male…

And I think this is a female…

This is a Red-breasted nuthatch, a common yard bird but one that’s often surprisingly difficult to photograph.

And finally, a couple of photos of an American robin.  The robins are another species that has virtually disappeared from the yard with the arrival of our accipiter.

I find it’s much more difficult to obtain really good photos in the winter months due to the lack of light.  I usually have to both lower my shutter speed and raise my ISO due to the lower light, and both adjustments are detrimental to obtaining really good photographs.  But we’re on the upswing now and every day brings a longer day and higher sun, so photographic conditions will gradually begin to improve.