The Vermillion Flycatcher was a bit of an obsession of mine during a recent trip to Arizona. Observing wildlife, in particular birds, continues to fascinate me. Until a few months ago, I really didn’t give birds a second thought. I didn’t consider birds, particularly “song-birds”, very sophisticated beings until closely watching this little guy catch a worm. We’ve all probably seen a Robin peck a worm out of the ground. Big deal, right? But, this flycatcher went from the fence to a spot in a baseball diamond about 50 ft away and came back with a worm in less time than it took for me to change my focus. He returned to the very same spot within a couple seconds. How did it locate the worm from that distance?? Birds seem to not only have a “territory” or a preferred tree...but a specific branch or spot on a fence that they return to time and time again. Mind blown.
Sony Alpha 6300 w/ Sony G-Series 100-400 mm | ISO 400 | 560mm | f8.0 | 1/2500 sec