Don't Prepare for Your Close-up

 

Sometimes you don't get the close-up shot you imagined you'd get. This is a very tightly cropped photo of a Northern Red Bishop, a species native to Africa, but photographed along the Guadalupe River in San Jose, California. There are apparently breeding populations in Southern California and Texas though, and this one appears to have a mate. eBird lists the species as "exotic/escapee", but maybe that will change as more of them establish themselves. Below are a couple of equally exotic Scaly-breasted Munias, native to southern Asia, which have definitely established themselves in the area. 

Written to the tune of Ludwig Van Beethoven Missa Solemnis, disc 74 of an 85 CD "Complete Works" box set.