Male Lesser Goldfinch Under A Leafy Umbrella

Having fast reflexes and being able to stop my Jeep quickly helped me photograph this male Lesser Goldfinch under a leafy umbrella three days ago.

Adult male Lesser Goldfinch under a leaf umbrella – Nikon D500, f8, 1/800, ISO 500, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

When I spotted the goldfinch at the top of the tree, I realized I needed to respond to the situation swiftly. There have been too many times in the past when a slow response resulted in me missing opportunities with birds and animals.

Some of those missed opportunities still haunt me a bit. Even a delay of a second or two can lead to missed shots.

I stopped my Jeep, put it in park, and within a second, I had the bird in my viewfinder. Since I had been holding my camera on my lap, I didn’t need to reach for it.

Once I locked onto the bird, I took a short series of photos before the finch took flight.

I’m not sure how I was able to get sharp photos of the goldfinch because I was laughing out loud. I could see the leafy umbrella through my viewfinder, and that struck my funny bone. Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to make me laugh; just ask the people who know me well. I even laugh in my sleep, and quite often I don’t know why.

But the Lesser Goldfinch under the leafy umbrella did make me laugh. That was partly because there was a bluebird sky without a single cloud. Not a chance of rain. Then I thought about the finch using the leaves as a parasol to protect itself from the bright sun. For some reason, that thought just made me laugh harder.

Life with laughter is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Lesser Goldfinch photos plus facts and information about this species.