In the Field

A Chilly Chatter. Findlay Creek, British Columbia, Canada. January 9, 2026.

I captured this image of a chattering Red Squirrel with "frosty breath" during a very chilly morning in the East Kootenays of BC. Like many other squirrel species, Red Squirrels tend to be pretty vocal, and often chatter at other squirrels (often when defending their territories from other Red Squirrels). In this particular case I really don't know what the heck (or who the heck) the squirrel was scolding as I could not see (or hear) any other squirrels in the vicinity.

I captured this image during the informal phase of my lens testing where I "just shoot" the lens in real world conditions (in this case real world COLD conditions!). The lens I was testing at the time was the Sony EF 300mm f2.8 GM OSS while paired with the Sony 1.4x TC. Long story short I could find virtually NO impact of the TC on either optical or autofocus performance…the combination just "shot" like a really high-quality 400mm(ish) lens!

By the time I got around to doing more systematic testing of this 300mm lens with the 1.4x TC I already knew it was good, but I didn't yet appreciate just how good it really was. During my systematic testing of it I shot it against 3 other 400mm prime lens options (as well as against a couple of variable aperture zoom lenses at 400mm). The prime 400mm lenses I tested it against were the Nikkor Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S, the Nikkor Z 400mm f4.5S, and the Sony EF 400mm f2.8 GM OSS. During that testing each lens was tested (under controlled and constant field conditions) at 3 distances and from wide open to f11 (in 1/3 stop increments).

Here are a few highlights from that testing:

1. When each lens was shot at its widest aperture (i.e., wide open) the Sony FE 300mm f2.8 GM OSS plus 1.4x TC was the sharpest of the lot (in both central regions and at the edges). The difference in sharpness was small, but noticeable.

2. When each lens was shot at f4 (those that had an aperture that wide) the sharpest of the lot was the Sony FE 300mm f2.8 GM OSS plus 1.4x TC. By f5 virtually all the lens were indistinguishable in sharpness.

3. Out-of-focus zones of the Sony 300mm f2.8 plus 1.4x TC, the Nikon 400mm f2.8, and the Sony 400mm f2.8 were virtually identical when you compared images shot at the same aperture (with the specular highlights of the Sony 300mm f2.8 plus 1.4x TC being very slightly smoother).

Bottom line: The overall performance of the Sony FE 300mm f2.8, and especially it paired up with the two Sony TC's, blew me away to the point where I knew I had to get one!

Here's a larger version (4800 pixel) of this chilly but chatty squirrel:

• A Chilly Chatter: Download 4800 pixel image (JPEG: 4.3 MB)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

1. These images - in all resolutions - are protected by copyright. I'm fine with personal uses of them (including use as desktop backgrounds or screensavers on your own computer), but unauthorized commercial use of the image is prohibited by law. Thanks in advance for respecting my copyright!

2. Like all photographs on this website, these images were captured following the strict ethical guidelines described in The Wildlife FIRST! Principles of Photographer Conduct. As such, no baiting or any form of attractant was used and, as always, we attempted to minimize our impact on the ongoing behaviour of the subjects. I strongly encourage all wildlife photographers to always put the welfare of their subjects above the value of their photographs.

Behind the Camera

A Chilly Chatter. Findlay Creek, British Columbia, Canada. January 9, 2026.

Lossless Compressed RAW (ARW) format; ISO 1600.

Sony A1 II paired with Sony EF 300mm f2.8 GM OSS lens with Sony 1.4x TC (420mm). Hand-held. OSS on camera on; OS on lens on and set to Mode 3. Expand Spot (Tracking) AF area mode with subject detection mode set to Animal/Bird.

1/1000s @ f4; +0.3 stop compensation from multi-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

A Chilly Chatter. Findlay Creek, British Columbia, Canada. January 9, 2026.

Initial noise reduction and capture sharpening on the .arw (raw) file using the DeepPRIME XD2S algorithm of DXO PhotoLab 9.3 Elite (using the appropriate camera/lens module).

Subsequent adjustments to the adjusted linear DNG file (exported from PhotoLab) and conversion to 16-bit TIFF file (and JPEG files for web use) - including all global and selective adjustments - made using Capture One Pro (build 16.7). In the case of this image only one global adjustment was made - an overall contrast bump using the Levels tool. Selective local adjustments performed using Capture One Pro's layers and masking tools. In this case numerous small adjustments and minor tweaks were made on 5 separate layers, with the tweaks being associated with "exposure balancing" and contrast adjustments (such as adjustments to brightness, clarity, highlights, shadows, blacks, etc.).

Photoshop modifications included insertion of the watermark and/or text.

Conservation

A Chilly Chatter. Findlay Creek, British Columbia, Canada. January 9, 2026.

IUCN Conservation Status*: Species of Least Concern.

The Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) is a medium-sized squirrel that occupies year-round exclusive territories from which they will aggressively repel intruding squirrels. They are widely distributed across much of North America almost everywhere conifers (and the cones the squirrels feed on) are found, except on portions of the west coast where they are replaced by Douglas Squirrels (AKA "Chickarees").

Red Squirrels have adapted well to the presence of humans and have the IUCN conservation status of a species of Least Concern. In many urban areas in North America the Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) have been introduced and ecologically replaced Red Squirrels. In North America this hasn't seemed to impact much on rural Red Squirrel populations, but in Britain the introduction of the Eastern Gray has had a major impact on the native Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), with the invasive grays replacing the native reds over much of their historical range.

*as determined by the IUCN: The Internation Union for Conservation of Nature - see www.iucnredlist.org