-21°C reflection

It is a pleasure to be back in Sweden as the guest of Conny and Catarina Lundström. Yesterday evening Catarina picked us (Jos van de Kerkhof and me) up at Skellefteå airport in her 41-year old Volvo. After a perilous drive of almost 100 km on icy roads we arrived in the hamlet of Kalvträsk. Most houses still have lighted X’mas stars behind the windows.
Around 6.45 AM, just after breakfast, we left the house. The slow sunrise paints the low clouds near the horizon with bright orange colors. The thermometer in the car shows -21°C; our visit started with a nice crispy morning.
The rest of the day we spent in old taiga forest. Here is one of its inhabitants: Willow Tit (Parus montanus). They look a bit different here (race borealis); their flank is much whiter.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 125mm; ISO-200, f16, 1/2s; +0.3 stop; tripod.
* Canon EOS 7D, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 200mm; ISO-400, f4, 1/80s; bean bag.