Back in February I took a short trip to Manitoba with some friends to try and see my first wild lynx. We succeeded, though the resulting photos left a lot to be desired. We saw little in the way of other wildlife, but on a -38 degree morning we did have some Spruce Grouse near the road. It was my first time seeing this species. Some males were keeping an eye on their hens, but in this case, she didn’t seem too interested.
Canon 1DXII
600mm f/4 IS + 1.4x
ISO 1600
1/640th
f/5.6
(Hand-held)
Max
Max, I really like how you captured the motion of the hen as she flees, while the male is tack sharp. Nicely done.
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Umm…minus 38?! I don’t think I’d have survived. I barely made it walking 3 blocks in -20 last year. As for the photo, I love the male’s pose and the setting. I also like the female in the back flying away and dont mind the blurriness. Critique-wise, I wouldn’t mind if both birds were making a little better eye contact, and I’d run a round of noise reduction on the BG. But my main critique is that I’d like to see the photo larger!
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Nice behavioral shot Max. You made me feel cold just looking at it without even reading the temperature at the time of the shot. Yes a little eye contact would be nice but you can’t control them. I’d like a little more room on both sides.
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Thanks for the feedback, everyone. At -38F, it was the second-coldest day I’ve ever experienced (I had -40, which is where F and C meet, in Yellowstone one year). Amazingly, it was the best wildlife day of this trip. We saw all five of our lynx that day, and got a bonus Great Gray Owl at the very end. There was very little activity the rest of the time.
As for the technical stuff on this one, the photos from this particular shoot actually came out a bit soft. Perhaps I was simply shivering too much in the cold—there wasn’t really a good opportunity to get close or set up with a tripod—but I feared some equipment malfunctions since I’d experienced some wonky behavior with the lens/TC combo on my other winter trips this year. Canon charged me to fix something in the lens, so it’s possible the softness I experienced was a technical issue. 
I guess I’ll find out soon, since my first trip out for photography since February may finally be coming up.
Max
Max: why were you even outside 
It’s nice to see the interaction between the two birds. Don’t know if there has been degradation due to downsizing, but the male seems a bit soft. Richard
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I love the interaction, Max. “No thanks, I’m busy.” A very nice job on the snow. Excellent image.
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Max, the mix of sharp look at the male and the moving female tells a great story, well worth a big grin. Both you and these birds must be well insulated to be out and about at -38.
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Wonderful shot Max, I haven’t seen many images of the male of this species displaying.
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Very nice behavioral capture Max. One of my favorite boreal species.
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Nice encounter you had there, Max and the cold shows of pretty nicely ! Well done, Cheers, Hans
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