2011, Day 238 - Feeding on the sun

This morning my friend Terri came up bright and early from Salem to go out and play with me.  I can hardly believe we're at the end of August already and our pact to get together monthly to go shooting has been obliterated by busy schedules.  Last time we met up it was to take pictures of butterflies down towards Salem so today we went out to Sauvie Island to take pictures of flowers.

The sunflowers are is full bloom though there are some plants that are still budding.  While much of the nation has had a hot summer ours in the Pacific Northwest has been cool and it didn't start until almost July (with it starting in earnest only last week).  Don't get me wrong, I love a mild summer and have enjoyed this summer immensely but it means that the crops are all off, the sunflowers included.

As I moved through the field it was obvious that there were all kinds of birds feeding on the seeds.  The darted in and out of the rows causing the flowers to dance and sway as they landed and then returned to the air.  I walked slowly and waited for what seemed like forever to someone with the attention span of a five year-old and this is what I was rewarded with.  I will acknowledge that in terms of wildlife photography is may not be the most dramatic image but I am proud of it and hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS MarkII
185mm, f8, 1/1000 sec @ 250 ISO