This isn't so much a gear, technique or photo-sharing thread, exclusively, so much as it is a philosophy thread. The gear, technique and photo comparisons will come up, though.

Over the years as I have lurked photography forums, "bird in flight" photography has risen to higher and higher prominence. I feel like even six or seven years ago, it was just called "birding" and if you happened to catch one in flight, that was more of a matter of luck. It still is very niche, but at least I'm starting to recognize BIF as more of a sport in its own right, like catch-and-release fly fishing is a type of sport fishing.

It's difficult to use a telephoto lens to quickly find, much less track a flying bird, it's even more difficult to get an interesting shot from a flattering angle with good lighting, it requires lots of patience in seeking out likely habitats and waiting for birds to come by, and even then, your gear needs to be top notch in order to keep up with the subject and produce a clear, sharp image. I am only now realizing how much I don't know about all this.

To the people who are BIFers here, what are some of the reasons you do BIF photography? How do you approach a photo outing? Do you just go on a hike with your camera at the ready, or do you go to a pond, river or other destination and just wait for the right shot? Do you always take your telephoto lens when you are on any kind of photo shoot and break out the telephoto when you see some interesting birds? What got you into BIF and what other kinds of photography do you do? How do you justify the expense of gear, at least at first, for something that so rarely produces a sharp, interesting, marketable photo?