A Proud Father

Visible Breath of Wren Song
Winning photo captures birds as they wake up on a cold spring morning.

Martin Freeman is a bird and wildlife hobbyist and amateur photographer whose photo, Visible Breath of Wren Song, was not only the winner of the Plants & Animals category of the 2021 Images of Edina photo contest but also took home Best in Show.

Freeman says he was walking through his backyard on a chilly morning in early June, seeing what he could find to photograph.

“The light was perfect, and the high-pitched male wren’s chatter-like song drew my attention to the nesting box where we knew these wrens were raising their brood,” he says.

Freeman says that his favorite part of the image is “the visible breath in the cold air and the message it sends about the proud father proclaiming his territory, guarding his mate who was raising a brood of chicks in the nesting box.”

Photographer: Martin Freeman

Title: Visible Breath of Wren Song

Equipment: Canon SLR and lens