Northern Cardinal - female

I captured this frame while leading a nine-day Birding with a Camera ® tour for Tropical Birding. Four clients and I spent an overcast - but still pretty amazing - morning at the Laguna Seca Ranch outside Edinburg where we used established set-ups to practice shooting technique and exposure theory on a wide variety of local birds. It was really satisfying to watch clients change their camera settings and see the corresponding shifts in the resultant histograms. Set-up photography is really easy - almost like cheating since the birds are lured with food - but it's a great way to reinforce technique while holding species, distance, and setting relatively constant.

Laguna Seca Ranch, Hidalgo County, Texas, 1/19/21
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II
1/500 at f/5.6, ISO 3200