Captured this image several days ago in the late afternoon at one of my local grassland preserves. This was an extremely eventful moment, since I've been frequenting this area for years and only sighted, at great distances, the adults. On this very lucky afternoon near the parking area just off one of the paths, was a mom and her 5 offspring. At the same time a person was approaching from the opposite direction without seeing the Pheasant family, so as politely as I could motioned them to stop, and proceeded to take only two images of the family before two people rode by on bikes talking loudly, then a group of people came by from an intersecting path scattering the Pheasants in all directions. I walked up the intersecting path, and this little sibling scampered out of the undergrowth looking for its mom, brothers and sisters. They all ultimately joined up in a field nearby. C&C welcome.
D500, Sigma 150-600mm C @ 440mm, 1/2500s, f/6.0, HH, ISO 2000.
Fantastic back story with the usual frustrations we must overcome and super image as well. Perfect pose and you got just low enough to blur the BG and show off that plumage and great view of the youngster's eye. Congrats on this find and TFS.
Good work. I suppose the dog walkers and cyclists have just as much right to the trails as we do, but it makes for difficult photography at times. (I remember when those trails were unimproved and we were the only fools out there.) Good capture. I've seen the adults and a few distant young ones there, but not so clear as you have captured here.