Black-capped Chickadee

I spent like twenty minutes chasing this guy around and trying to get his picture. He would chirp at me, then hop behind a tree or bush and flit around around from branch to branch. Autofocus would hunt between the branches and settle on the tree in front of me. It was getting dark, so I switched to manual focus, which is extra sticky on this Sigma 175-500. 

I took somewhere around fifteen to twenty shots, I switched focus metering mode, I went from single shot to burst mode. He had a companion just across the way that would chirp at him and he would chirp back. I'm sure they were toying with me.

I don't have any aspersions about being a particularly good photographer, I know plenty of people have done better with far less capable equipment.

This is not a rare bird as far as I'm aware, I know I've probably seen thousands of them, up there somewhere between Juncos and Seagulls.

Most pictures I post here are just enough to identify a bird, and are not particularly good aesthetically or technically, but man these are just bad.

It is humbling, I think, to see such a common thing, and to attempt and fail so nearly completely to capture it in a way I think I should be readily able.

Probably good for me to be honest about this being the best I could manage this day, accepting it as enough.

Or maybe it's petty of me, that the bird didn't want or care to have it's picture taken, but I took one anyway and I'm posting it out of spite.

No, it's the humility thing, I'm sure that's it.