It is not very difficult for us to make a photo of an American Goldfinch. We have them every day in our yard feeding on a thistle seed feeder or just sitting in the trees nearby. There are lots of pictures on the hard drive already of this wonderful finch, which by the way is the state bird of Iowa, but I was still looking for an image that I had in mind and that tells the story about their natural feeding habits much better. Last weekend in the Green Island Wetlands I had my chance and for a few seconds I had this male goldfinch sitting on a thistle. I wanted its face and used the peak of action when the finch lifted its head and looked around for a brief moment to make sure no predator would surprise it while eating. I'm not an "eyeball photographer" and like environmental portraits of the critters instead, but I wished I was a little closer. I'm very happy about this shot that will make it into the Iowa Wildlife Gallery but there is still room for improvement and so a new goal has been set already... ;-)