Blake

I had set up my "spot" near my birdfeeder in the back yard to experiment with the ever present house sparrows that dominate the feeder.  After sitting there for about 20 minutes, the sparrows accepted my presence and went about their normal activities of feeding, bickering amongst themselves and pressing for a place at the feeder.  My bird feeder is in a fairly densely populated residential neighborhood just north of NYC and the only birds that I typically see are house sparrows, cardinals, chickadees and morning doves . . . oh and an occasional Coopers hawk taking advantage of the easy prey.  I was totally stunned to be visited by this molting male Indigo Bunting and immediately focused my attention on him.  While I know that these birds can be seen in Westchester County, they are typically habitate more rural settings so it gave me great pleasure and hope to see this songbird in my back yard.  I was able to take 40 shots at different speeds/apetures/ISO settings and really experiment with my patient subject who cooperated by sitting in the bushes next to the feeder in between long feedings at the feeder.  This shot was taken as 1/450 F7.1 ISO 1200 with a Cannon R6 MkII and a Cannon 100-500 Zoom and then touched up in Light Room.