California Pheasants

If someone asked me what’s the most important part of shooting birds/wildlife, I would probably say “persistence,” followed much too closely by “very expensive photo equipment.” Leslie likes pheasants and really wanted to get a good shot of one on our recent trip to Sacramento Wildlife Refuge. We saw very few on our first visit; the only one that was close enough to get a shot of was this one that ambled down the road in front of the car, swishing its tail

pheasant

from side to side,

 pheasant

refusing to ever look back.

On our next trip back Leslie was excited to spot a pheasant on her side of the car,

pheasant

but once again the pheasant never looked back at her.

We saw our final pheasant just as we were about to leave the refuge and return to Vancouver. Although it took several minutes to get a shot of the pheasant on top of the ridge rather than behind it, we both got some excellent shots, like this one by Leslie,

pheasant

and this one by me.

pheasant

Of course, I’ve actually been trying to get shots of pheasants for several years now, but I think these two might be the best we’ve managed to get so far.