About once every couple of years (or less) I’ll be sitting in my truck with my camera, at the Ridgefield NWR shooting one bird at a distance, when suddenly, another bird will fly right in front of me and land on a bush that is less than 15 feet away, just outside my truck window. It’s like a free shot I don’t even have to work for! This American Goldfinch did just that on July 20, 2015, and was almost too close to focus on. The bird stayed there long enough (about 20 seconds) to turn from side to side giving me several poses to choose from. Twenty seconds is a long time in bird photography and it’s almost like the bird was telling me to shoot him and forget about that other bird I was shooting. So I did.
Canon 7D Mark II, 1/1600, f4, ISO 500, 500mm, 10:28 a.m.