A female Grey Partridge struts across early winter prairie snow. More than a dozen of these rotund little game birds were foraging for seeds next to a clearing, and they allowed me to park the rolling red Toyota blind nearby and shoot from cover.
Shooting from the car is hit-and-miss in the winter months, mainly because when I roll my windows down the heat exchange as warm interior air rushes outside will degrade image sharpness. So... I often drive with the heat off, and that isn't much fun. Luckily, this covey - the collective descriptor for a partridge group - were not disturbed by my arrival and the extra time I had with them allowed air temperatures inside and outside to equalize.
"Female" - an educated guess. Males have a larger dark belly patch. It's not even visible in this individual, probably because her patch is smaller and she has turned slightly away from me.
I do love winter light. Even on days like this, when the sun doesn't shine, snow will reflect light back onto my subjects. And sunny days are pure magic... so stay tuned for examples of both over the next week or so.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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