Sunflower
This was supposed to be an Indigo Bunting; at least I was hoping to see and photograph one this afternoon. A common bird back in NJ, where they nested close to our house. Here in AZ they only nest in a few places far from Phoenix, and are hard to see as migrants.
But one friend had seen one at the Gilbert Water Ranch late on Thursday, and another found three(!) of them in the same area this morning. So, I headed out after lunch, even though it was plenty hot and the sky was dark and ready to rain.
Two hours of looking, with 20 pounds of camera gear on my shoulder, turned up very few birds and no buntings. On my way back to the car I decided to check another park of the Ranch and paused long enough to photograph a small clump of sunflowers. The background is a dry pond full of dark vegetation, and I lucked out with good light on the sunflower and less light on the background.
Nikon D200, 300/2.8 and TC20E (2x), ISO 200, 1/250th second at f/9, fill from SB-800 flash at -2.7 ev.
