I'm more of a landscape guy but I will never pass up the opportunity to get a shot of a bird. I'm normally out in nature preserves and the birds are super skittish; and this little guy was no acceptation. I just happened to be standing still, he just happened to land about 12ft away, and I just happened to have my 300mm lens on and camera settings within reason. He landed, shot over a branch, and zoom.... gone. All in around 10 seconds. The true miracle was my single focus point actually popped on him and not all the brush around him.
Got off three shots. This is one of them. It's not the "perfect" bird pose but the crest is on display and the yellow under the wing can be seen.
In the second image I'm just showing the edit I did to the first photo; removed the stick coming out of his head and the shadow across his face. [Edit: Moving this image to comments as to not spam the main group images]
Nikon d5500 (crop sensor) and 70-300mm kit lens.
Version showing edits.
Don't you just love it when all the shot gods are on your side and an unintended opportunity is offered to you?
Definitely. Statistically and given my past track record with birds... Sometimes the 'dice of life' roll up lucky sevens.