Motif: Painted Bunting

Painted Bunting - West Palm Beach, FL
EOS 1D, 600mm, 1.4x, 1/200, f/7.1, Fill @ -1 2/3, ISO 250

For this week's motif I had to dig out one of my favorites. I realize many of you have seen this shot in other places before. It is one of my favorite not only because of the beauty of the subject but also because of the patience, dedication, and perseverance to get this shot.

The story of this shot starts in 2000, a year before it was taken when I was talking to a photographer at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine and he gave me his card which had a picture of a Painted Bunting on it. I asked him where and what time of year he took it. He told me of a park in West Palm Beach. So my 2001 spring Florida trip had to include this place. For this reason only, I drove all the way across Florida from my Florida Gulf Coast photo journey and bought a much more expensive plane ticket - flying into Tampa and out of Lauderdale. I told Greg about this place and he accompanied me. We found the spot and saw a couple of Painted Buntings appear every 20 minutes or so. They would hop in and hop back out, never sitting long enough to get a decent shot. We sat in the same spot on hard concrete for 2 1/2 days. Late afternoon on the day before I was to fly back, Greg decided to take a break and left for a couple of hours and sure enough this sub-adult male Painted Bunting hops on this stick, looks toward me and gives me enough time for a 5 frame burst. Greg still hasn't forgiven me or himself