![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-3780-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"green-tailed-towhee-3780-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is the first shot, out of almost 1500,\u00a0I took of the male Green-tailed Towhee (based on my shutter speed I obviously hadn’t yet had time to adjust my settings)\u00a0who was often singing on territory but very far away. At this point I considered it a success just to see him and get some documentary photos.<\/p>\n But then a near-miracle happened.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n He flew in and landed so close to my pickup that I had to compose carefully to get him all in the frame. I literally couldn’t believe this\u00a0elusive species came in that close and stayed close for as long as it did.<\/p>\n Because of the distracting foreground elements I’m only including this shot to show you how close he came – this photo is full frame (uncropped).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n And after that he teased and beguiled me by landing on many close perches that were\u00a0sometimes less than ideal but gave me a detailed look at the bird.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This photo is almost identical to the previous one but I’m including it because a passing cloud had darkened the hillside in the background and I thought the contrast between the two images (not to mention the dramatically different\u00a0shutter speeds)\u00a0was interesting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n He even landed on a photogenic perch or two that gave me a clear look at the bird.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But he seemed to be particularly fond of this gnarly old twig. Everywhere he landed he was singing on territory and when he was perched close to me the inside of my pickup seemed to be flooded with his song. Many of his songs can be heard here<\/a> if you have the interest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Once again the hillside in the background became shaded and that sort of spotlighted the bird as he turned and gave me several nice poses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n To my eye several of these photos appear to be on the verge of being over-sharpened which puzzles me a little. By the nature of the beast virtually all images shot in RAW need at least some sharpening but I’ve applied less than 50% of the amount of sharpening to most of these shots than I\u00a0normally do and\u00a0some of them\u00a0still seem a little crispy. Perhaps I should have applied no sharpening at all…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n A couple of\u00a0 times the breeze caught the back of his red cap and raised it so that the back of it looked like it had been cut vertically by a deranged barber and that amused me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n The sexes are similar in this species but I know this bird to be a male because females don’t sing.<\/p>\n Soon after this shot was taken he flew across the road so I left the area. I’d spent 50 minutes with\u00a0this bird\u00a0and taken roughly 1500 shots of him and that blew me away considering their shyness and\u00a0my past record with the species.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n