Sometimes we get little gifts when we go out to look at birds and today was a day that ended with one of those special gifts. We had spent the afternoon at Brazos Bend State Park and it was a beautiful day and we had some nice birds.

The sun was quickly going down and we were headed for the car pretty satisfied with all we had seen when all of a sudden, we saw and heard two Vermilion Flycatchers chasing each other around in the treetops along the 40 Acre Lake trail. We looked up and a male and female almost seemed to be playing with each other. One would land on a perch then the other would fly in and almost knock the other off, taking its place. They kept taking turns doing this and we started clicking away.

If that wasn’t enough, this was all taking place at the very top of a small oak tree bathed in the last bit of beautiful warm sunlight of the day. It was enough to just make an already bright bird absolutely glow.

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Pyrocephalus rubinus