Joys of a Power Cut, a photo from Mazowieckie, East

Photographer's Note

I dedicate this upload to Bev (fellow garden bird lover) and Malgo (as she's posted a few images showing last weekend's unexpected heavy snowfall).

Where I was staying at the time, this sudden return of winter brought lots of damage to conifer trees (wet, relentless snow was so heavy that several branches fell down and smaller trees got bent to the ground or broken). We also experienced a long (over 20 hours with a short break in the middle) power cut.

Now, we don't normally think how much we rely on an uninterrupted supply of the electric current. There was no light, but also the freezer stopped working, as did the heating (the boiler requires electricity to continue working) and consequently, the supply of hot water. If that was not enough, the power cut also meant no internet and the mobile phone signal disappeared. And, of course, my whole "to-do" list became useless - no washing, hoovering, washing up or working on the computer.

Fortunately, the snow also brought lots of birds attracted to our garden feeders. As I couldn't go for a walk (caring, on my own, for my incapacitated mum, as the carer we employ had a weekend off), my feathered friends provided much welcome entertainment and a handy photo subject. I took lots of pictures, the birds presented here are (clockwise from top left): male chaffinch, male hawfinch, female chaffing and male goldfinch.

holmertz, Fis2, worldcitizen, pajaran, COSTANTINO, jemaflor, ikeharel, jean113, PiotrF, Royaldevon, ahmet54, PaulVDV, aliabazari, ChrisJ, fotka has marked this note useful

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Tue (92360) 2022-04-09 11:27

Hello Kasia,
Four superb photo of these charming little birds. They look all perfect with excellent sharpness and depth of field. Their feathers and pattern are very clearly visible.
Lars

holmertz (102700) 2022-04-09 12:01

Hello Kasia,
How I envy you for seeing all these birds outside your house. I probably never saw a goldfinch, which are very rare in Sweden, but the others were dear visitors at our feeders in my childhood village in rural Sweden. You captured them all beautifully and presented them very nicely. They're so sharp and well exposed they almost look alive. ;-)
Kind regards,
Gert

Fis2 (170747) 2022-04-09 13:47

Czesc Kasiu!
Ladna prezentacja pieknych ptaszkow.
Znakomite kadry, kolorki i ostrosc.
Podoba sie.
Milej niedzieli.
Krzysztof

Silvio1953 (221593) 2022-04-09 14:10

Ciao Kasia, beautiful collage with lovely birds in nice pose, in each photo wonderful natural colors, splendid sharpness and fine details, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

worldcitizen (16072) 2022-04-09 14:32

Hello Kasia,
This is a great collections of bird portraits; each one is so sharp and detailed. The falling snowflakes are an added bonus, too. I've never seen any of these birds in my backyard, but it's nice to see them here. :-) Take care, and best wishes to your mom, too.

ifege (48085) 2022-04-09 21:36

Hi Kasia
Sounds like a very cold experience but it produced some great bird photos for this very attractive collage.
cheers
Ian

COSTANTINO (116490) 2022-04-09 21:53

Hello dear Kasia and have a nice day
and generally a pleasant Sunday
the weather this year was too heavy
in Greece too...Yesterday the temperature
arrived to 28 degrees!!!!Too hot for the
beginning of the month April...
thanks for sharing this sweet and delicate
photo with the little birds!!!!
The snow brought all these birds to
your garden feeders!!!!you was too lucky
to feed all these poor birds...
regards
costantino

jemaflor (147128) 2022-04-09 23:30

Hi Kasia,
So interesting and well made your collage with these 4 photos of birds, excellent sharpness management, well observed and taken, I like so much this goldfinch with these colors, tfs.

emka (158156) 2022-04-10 0:08

Część Kasiu,

Dzięki za dedykację :). Ja wiem, jak to jest, kiedy nie ma prądu. Kiedys nie było u nas prądu przez raptem kilka godzin i to jest katastrofa, bo wtedy NIC nie działa.
ale jakie ślkiczne ptaszki do Ciebie przyleciały. W moim ogrku tez sa, ale nie takie kolorowe i nigdy nie udalo mi sie do nich tak zblizyć. Cudne!

Pozdrawiam bardzi serdecznie

MAłgorzata

lousat (139266) 2022-04-10 1:54

Ciao Kasia,unusual pic for your gallery and i like a lot it! A great collage in the unexpected snow of last week of 4 bird species not easy to take so well, a work of patience made in a very perfect way! Have a nice Sunday and thanks,Luciano

jean113 (27853) 2022-04-10 4:42

Hello Kasia, seeing these birds must have been some compensation for the lack of electricity. Having a power cut makes us realise how reliant we are on electricity.
We have goldfinches in our garden, but how lucky were you seeing a hawfinch, a bird that I have never seen for real.
A lovely presentation, thanks for sharing.
The shots are so sharp.
Kind regards, Jean.

PiotrF (54666) 2022-04-10 15:28

Czesc Kasiu,
Wazne aby brak pradu nie zaskoczyl nas z nienaladowanym akumulatorem do aparatu. Widze, ze wciagnelas sie w fotografowanie skrzydlatych przyjaciol, choc kojarze tez zdjecia sprzed lat angielskich papug - to temat Ci znany. Swietna seria
pozdrawiam
Piotr

Royaldevon (85932) 2022-04-11 7:30

Hello Kasia,

Thank you for your kind dedication!
WE do not get hawfinches but I recognise the other beauties in your beautiful bird parade!
You have done well to get such sharp images. Birds are not usually helpful when it comes to being photographed!
Doesn't Mrs Chaffinch look pleased with herself! Maybe she has just bagged herself a very attractive, helpful husband!!

Recently, I changed the feed in one of our feeders from sunflower seeds to sunflower hearts and immediately had red polls and reed buntings visiting, birds that I hadn't seen for a couple of years!

Kind regards,
Bev :-)

ahmet54 (3600) 2022-04-11 12:28

Witaj Kasia,
great captures of these beautiful birds. I really like them.
Thanks for sharing
Roland

PaulVDV (62892) 2022-04-11 13:46

Hello Kasia,
It must have been about 20 years ago that I had a power cut at home. But I remember it was on the weekend in winter and also lasted quite a long time.
Since everything in my house works with electricity, I can do nothing in the event of a power cut, only lie in bed and sleep.
A power cut means no heating, no lighting, no possibility to make a hot meal, no coffee or tea, no TV, radio or internet, no possibility for a hot bath.
Either sit in the cold with candlelight or go to sleep :)
Here you present us four real quality photos of very beautiful birds.
Where I live, I mainly see wood pigeons, crows, magpies and tits. Even the common sparrow has almost disappeared here.
The birds you show in these photos seem almost exotic to me.
Wonderful presentations with the snowy blurred background.
Best regards, Paul

aliabazari (22175) 2022-04-13 20:40

Hello Kasia
A beautiful close-up of these lovely birds. Clarity and lighting done well. Thanks for sharing

ChrisJ (171822) 2022-04-14 7:42

Hello Kasia,

Every (snow) cloud has a silver lining. A superb quartet of birds from 4 different species. Good dof and sharpness with a soft diffused light. Tfs!

pajaran (115891) 2022-04-16 10:06

Pozdrav.

Lepi pogledi, interesantan i dobar tekst ...
Lepe ptice, dobro pokazane sa lepim bojama, kontrastom i uhvacenim trenutkom.
Lepe bastenske ptice.
Dobar rad sa lepim fotografijama.

Zelim vam sve najbolje.
Paja

GyurMaster (24830) 2022-04-16 11:08

Hello again,

I'm happy to see that despite the hardships you found joy due to the unexpected visitors. All of them are nicely captured photo, which 'could be sold' alone.

Best Wishes,
Gy.

PS: I have missed some good photos from you I will strive to visit them during the Easter Holiday. :)

mkamionka (74407) 2022-04-24 11:25

Czesc Kasiu,
Moj pierwszy dom ktory wynajmowalem w UK ok 10 lat temu byl z trzech stron otoczony parkiem i przychodzily tam wlasnie tak bardzo kolorowe ptaki jak te. Nigdy nie widzialem hawfinch ale naliczylem ponad 30 roznych gatunkow przez okno. Te zdjecia wklejalem jednak na facebooku i nie byly tak dobre jak Twoje.
Piekna seria. Doskonale wyrazne modele. Pieknie ci pozuja i w dodatku niesamowita zimowa sceneria w tle.
Pozdrawiam serdecznie,
M

fotka (8995) 2022-04-25 5:17

Witaj Kasiu,
Nie wszystko skonczylo sie zle z brakiem pradu poniewaz przelozylo sie na kolekcje czterech zdjec z ptaszkami. Mieszkasz w ciekawym miejscu gdzie tacy sliczni goscie Cie odwiedzaja.
Swietna jakosc, super ostrosc ptaszkow na tle zamglonego tla.
Pozdrawiam,
Zbigniew