Yellow-headed Blackbird

I'd never photographed this stunning species before this encounter, so I was thrilled to find an accessible roadside pond serving as home to several breeding pairs. With this territorial male returning to this sagebrush perch again and again, it was as easy as positioning myself in the evening sun and waiting a few minutes. He was so loyal to this particular sprig that I was able to bend another, distracting branch out of the frame between his visits. The blackbird and sage are individually suggestive of the American West, so I went with a wider crop to highlight the relationship between them, sagebrush often abutting the ponds this bird frequents. The subject is so striking I think the smaller-in-frame approach works in this instance.

Sierra Valley, Sierra County, California, 6/8/20
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on ESO 1DX Mark II
1/3200 at f/7.1, ISO 1250