I have absolutely NO experience shooting birds, but here we go.

It's difficult using the camera with mittens on, but it's possible. Even then my fingers and toes froze quicker than the batteries on the camera... it was almost -20 degrees Celsius outside. Strangely the two batteries in the battery grip were fine, when the LCD screens in the camera were, well, pretty slow to respond.

This spot is never frozen during winter, so many birds gather there. This then attracts many people to feed the birds, which brings even more birds here. Mostly ducks, with some other birds mixed in. I was a bit baffled when I saw two swans swimming graciously straight in to the fray with the ducks just when I was about to leave. I guess they were hungry too.

Only one lady told me that it's easy to photograph the birds, but try feeding them! Oh well. Sorry ma'am, I try to feed myself first, which, btw, I don't do by photographing.

There was one man trenched in the shore with 1D mark II and some heavy L glass. Talk about envy, I had to do with my battered 17-year-old 100-300L and 350D.