This article features a selection of 20 consecutive photographs of a chickadee fighting back after it was challenged by another of its own species. This is one of those ‘slice of life’ image runs made possible by the Olympus Pro Capture H mode.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

In our first image we can see the challenging bird approaching the chickadee perched on an outstretched hand with some peanuts.

As the challenger moves in closer the perched chickadee begins to lose its footing.

The perched chickadee begins to fall as the challenger begins its landing manoeuvre.

The perched chickadee turns in mid-air to face the challenger.

The challenger begins to have second thoughts as the original perched bird begins fighting back.

The challenger back peddles its wings to stop its landing manoeuvre.

The chickadee fighting back continues its aggressive retaliation.

The challenger is hovering above the outstretched hand, watching the other chickadee approaching.

As the chickadee fighting back continues to advance, the challenger decides to leave.

The challenger appears to stall in mid-air just before it turns to retreat. The next 10 frames capture the original perched chickadee fighting back, then chasing the challenger away.

Beautiful spread wing position of the challenger.

Another beautiful wing position as the challenger flies backwards away from the chickadee fighting back.

An interesting mid-air pose by the challenger.

Some aerial acrobatics by the challenger as it makes a hasty retreat.

The 20 photographs in this Olympus Pro Capture H image run took a total of 1/3 of a second to capture handheld with my Olympus OM-D E-M1X. Being able to capture this ‘slice of life’ action with full resolution RAW files at 60 frames per second redefines what is possible for bird-in-flight photography.

Technical Note:
Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. All images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. Photographs are displayed as 100% captures without any cropping.

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