Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi)

Bird photography continues to be a challenge, in terms both of technique and equipment. This lovely little Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi), for instance, persisted in perching on an inaccessible snag (technique problem) just a little too far away for even my longest lens (equipment problem) to capture him well. Nevertheless I spent a delightful hour watching him catch insects in the air, at which he was very adept. He would sit on this snag peering alertly in every direction (he can swivel his head right around to look backwards) and when he sighted an insect he would dive down on it and return to his perch to eat it. Below, he is dining on a bumblebee (left) and a dragonfly (right).