Normally, when I chase avians, I try to be as quiet as possible, getting to them as close as possible with or without a telephoto lens. Then, like clockwork, I step on some branch, and off they go. Kodak moment ruined!

Perhaps, I should reconsider my urban habit of wearing stilettos here in the near-wilderness after all. Oh, and bringing along my hunting-breed dog, who is "slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells" (at least according to Shakespeare in Midsummer Night's Dream and anyone else who has ever heard a basset).

But sometimes, only sometimes, birds literally pose for me. I mean, what else would you call this blackbird below deliberately positioning itself against a red-and-white backdrop? ;)