Here is a cliff swallow at the 14th Street bridge. I had a really hard time shooting these birds... they are aerial acrobats, very fast and highly maneuverable. They change direction quickly and unpredictably as they chase down the hundreds of insects they eat each day. Even agile insects like dragonflies are seldom successful in evading these birds.

Since these birds were fairly far away I shot them with my 70-300mm, but I immediately ran into trouble... the 70-300 is a slow-focusing lens so the few good photos I got were the result of pure luck. Out of about 80 shots, I only got two that were in focus. A few days later I went back and decided to use my shorter 18-135mm. Even though it did not have the reach, its internal motor focuses much more quickly and my ratio of in-focus shots improved tremendously.