The grosbeak feeding station was manna from photographic heaven. Adult males (red), immature males (orange) and females (yellower) were all enjoyable to watch.

James Lowen

Wildlife

BLOG 26 Mar 2015

Pine Grosbeaks

Njelan Tuulen Tupa, north of Inari in Finland, offers fantastic opportunities to see and photograph otherwise difficult taiga forest wildlife. We spent a thoroughly enjoyable 24 hours here papping. Pine Grosbeaks were undoubtedly the highlight - indeed, the bird of the trip - thanks to their proximity and numbers. We reckon we could keep tabs on about 50 individuals at any one time, with groups coming and going constantly. The true total may have been significantly higher. We stayed a few metres back - but the Grosbeaks were not in the least bit shy. The following images are taken with a 17mm lens - and I reckon show 18 or 19 birds, plus accompanying redpolls. .