Canyon Wren

Given how much time I've spent in AZ, NM, TX, UT, and CO, it's kinda funny that my first decent frame of this classically-southwestern species came from the Bay Area (where the bird is quite rare). This individual had been eBirded from a park south of San Jose for weeks, and he proved unbelievably cooperative when I finally made the eighty-minute drive to look for him. This favored perch featured several dried poops, so I used an old rag to scrub them off while he rotated through a few others. Who needs Photoshop when it can be done in the field, right? I was a bit nervous I wouldn't be able to freeze the pulsating beak, but ISO 3200 did the trick. I got lucky here since 1/1250 is double the 1/2500 shutter speed I prefer for action.

Coyote Lake, Santa Clara County, California, 4/9/21
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II
1/1250 at f/5.6, ISO 3200