I used my lunch break today for some practice with fill flash in the front yard and the local birds served as my models. Suddenly I saw a “new face” showing up and recognized immediately a White-throated Sparrow, the first one migrating through. It rested briefly in the shade of our big maple, on a boulder that sits between the spring flowers. There aren’t many birds that are better for practice and testing than this sparrow with its white throat. The bird has black and white that provides good contrast for focus and it has colors, ideal for checking the results of using fill flash for color enhancement.
Without fill flash the second photo, made in bright sun around 1PM, would not turn out the way it is. The White-throated Sparrow, which sat in the shade under a feeder, would have been very dark or the highlights of the surrounding flowers and grass would have been blown out. I hope to see this bird again in the next few days... :-)