I camped in the Anza-Borrego Desert this weekend. I usually combine wildlife photography with hiking, but on this trip I stayed within a half-mile of camp, in a place I've spent a dozen days. It gave me an opportunity to focus on "photo making" instead of "photo taking", sketching the shot in a specific time and location before actually getting on location with camera in hand. In this photo, a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher is claiming his territory on a new morning in the canyon. The gnatcatchers do not favor this plant for singing, because it's uniformly dense; they like plants with lone branches where they can prominently display. And critically, they spend seconds in such prominent display spots, as opposed to the split seconds they spend in more dense positions. But their colors were so well-complemented by the white-lavender flowers, I patiently hunkered down and waited for my chance, which eventually came.