Over the years I have seen and captured photographs of many "backyard birds" but today was a little unusual.  Instead of the typical robins, blue jays and sparrows, there was a Ring-necked Pheasant right on my front lawn.  This species generally lives in wooded areas where it can use the many trees as places to hide from predators so it was quite a surprise to see one in the open in a suburban neighborhood.

A particularly shy bird, the pheasant is easily spooked so I had to be extra quiet and careful in order to grab a photo without scaring him off.  Fortunately I was using my 70-200mm zoom lens at the long end which enabled me to get in for a tighter shot but not taking any chances, he flew away the moment he heard the click of my camera.

 

Equipment and Settings

Canon 40D
1/125 sec at f4.0, ISO 400
Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM lens set at 200mm