Rusty Blackbird (1 in collection of 9)

How the hell did I get 9 keeper frames of this one bird from a single shoot?!?! The best part? Rusty Blackbird is hella rare in California; it nests in boreal Canada and winters in marshes in the eastern half of the lower 48 states. A friend found this wandering female at the southern end of my home San Mateo County, so I drove down there with high photographic hopes the next morning. I arrived just before sunrise and found the bird foraging in the same creek outflow where it was reported the previous day. It was tolerant of my amphibious approach as I crawled through the creek on my stomach, and I was able to generate the golden surrounds by shooting against an earthen/sandy cliff abutting the water. The bird was flushed by a passing Peregrine Falcon while I was shooting and never returned. Stoked I went when I did!

Gazos Creek, San Mateo County, California, 10/28/20
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II
1/2500 at f/7.1, ISO 1000