Purple Finch

Adding to my yardbird list for the year with this vibrant male Purple Finch.  This has not been a "big" finch winter - the food shortages that sometimes drive them south in the winter not being an issue this year.  Consequently, I have only seen a handful this winter.  I was out in the hide this afternoon taking advantage of some lovely low light when he popped up right in front of me.  For comparison, I will put a shot of a male House Finch in Extra - I think these two images show some of the differences between two birds that look, at first glance, very similar.

I've had a productive day - spent an hour on the phone with our cellular provider (never fun), then tackled a Firmware upgrade (more to follow) on the Z8 and then took Jax out to the park for a snifari.  And finally, some time in the hide.  And I also spent some time on the phone with a friend this morning who is going through breast cancer - how I wish no one had to go through this.  

So the firmware upgrade...this has been eagerly awaited and much-debated.  And it has lived up to all the hype, in my opinion.  It has added an auto-focus specifically for Bird Eye focus and in my limited test today, it's fabulous.  There were a bunch of other features included in the upgrade, but this one was the one I was most excited about.  I plan to take it for a deeper test tomorrow after I drop Jax off at daycare.  

Dark with ginger today.

xo
Debbi