Top 10 Hardest Birds to Photograph
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Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WAS RIGHT THERE?"
The undisputed champion.
Tiny. Hyperactive. Tail flicking every 0.2 seconds. Lives in the highest branch possible. Never stops moving. Ever.
You don't photograph Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
You negotiate with it for temporary mercy.
Difficulty: Biblically Accurate Suffering
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Great Crested Flycatcher
"HEARD: yes. SEEN: absolutely not."
You hear the loud prehistoric squeaking for six straight months.
The moment you lift your camera? Gone. Vanished. Ascended.
Difficulty: Insane
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Great Grey Owl
"Congratulations! You photographed a tree with eyes."
People fly across continents for this bird, only for it to appear 800 feet away at dusk behind snowfall.
Difficulty: Nightmare
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Night Parrot
"Australia's greatest practical joke."
People literally thought this bird was extinct for decades because it refused to participate in reality.
Difficulty: Legendary
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Wilson's Bird-of-Paradise
"National Geographic lied to you."
To get those famous shots you need:
perfect light
perfect timing
impossible jungle conditions
approximately seventeen years of emotional endurance
Difficulty: Insane
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Resplendent Quetzal
"You traveled internationally for this silhouette."
One of the most beautiful birds on Earth.
Also one of the best at hiding in fog at the exact second you arrive.
Difficulty: Brutal
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Common Yellowthroat
"Congratulations on your excellent photo of grass."
Lives permanently inside swamp vegetation and only reveals itself when your autofocus gives up spiritually.
Difficulty: Brutal
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Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
"Here is one blurry pixel and 17 leaves."
The bird equivalent of caffeine. Constant motion, zero patience, and somehow always behind one branch.
Difficulty: Very Hard
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Belted Kingfisher
"HAHAHAHAHAHA" (flies away at Mach 12)
One of the loudest birds in existence and somehow still impossible to photograph well, unless you enjoy taking pictures of telephone wires from 400 yards away.
Difficulty: Very Hard
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Brown Creeper
"I am bark. You are hallucinating."
You finally find one, and it immediately spirals around the opposite side of the tree like it owes the IRS money.
Difficulty: Very Hard
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Pileated Woodpecker
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Purple Martin
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Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
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Northern Parula
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Pied-Billed Grebe
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Green Heron
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Spotted Sandpiper
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White-Eyed Vireo
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Yellow-Throated Vireo
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Barn Swallow
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Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
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Chimney Swift
