I haven’t taken any pictures of my hummingbirds for quite a while, I keep forgetting to have Jacqui record them on digital video so that I can post them online for you to see. It is such an amazing experience. There are so many hummingbirds here right now that I fill 4 of these containers twice a day.
Tonight as I was feeding them, I decided to stand on a chair about 18 inches away and just watch for a while. The first thing I noticed was that we’ve been invaded by a huge amount of Rufous Hummingbirds. They are the rusty colored hummers. Most years we’ve had two or 3, this year the populations seems to be about 60% of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and 40% Rufous.
When you stand as close as I did, they will literally fly inches from your face and you can feel the volume of air that their little wings move. It feels like standing in front of a fan at medium speed.
The second set of pictures are some close up photos of the Rufous birds.
I was amazed at the quality of the photographs that I was able to take. This is just a moderately priced Fujifilm finepix with no special lens or strobe. You can bet that these birds will show up in the future in some paintings! I’m going to take a lot more reference photos while they’re still here. Being able to capture them in various flying positions is very valuable for me.
Anyone who has watched hummingbirds knows that they fight a lot, but until I stood as close as this, I never realized that they do actually hit one another. You can hear beaks click as the hit each other and several times I heard body blows that were quite extreme. These are seriously territorial birds!
It’s impossible to actually count how many there are, but there are three feeders under this patio cover and each one was covered with 18-24 birds either feeding or within 6-10 feet in a holding pattern. Some times two birds will actually share a single feeding spot and take turns. It make me wonder if their families work together to feed with a strong male guarding. I observed that kind of behavior several times. I’m going to have to find some more detailed books than I’ve read thus far. Wish you could be here!
Audrey Jeanne Roberts
WOW AJ!! WOW!! What amazing pictures. WOW!!!!
When I was young we lived on a farm in SC and hummingbirds came every day in summer to one bush just off our screened porch. We never got near them tho. These are great pics.
WOW that is just totally awesome! I envy you this experience! Thanks for sharing them, you made my night.
You and your lovely hummingbirds. They are really fun to watch.
Oh My Goodness! I was just telling my DD about your hummingbirds! These phots are breathtaking! Make sure you get plenty shots of the various wing postitions in flight LOL. You never know when they just may need to “move” on the page!
AJ these photos are awesome. I have only gotten ones with blurry wings. I can’t believe the detail of the feathers that you have gotten.
just incredible pictures aj….send some of those little birdies to NY i have not seen any yet this year….. (I’m really not trying to hog them! I’d send them your way, but they don’t take orders from me, in fact they pretty much boss me around!!! AJ)
Those are amazing pictures!
Those are absolutely wonderful photos! You are lucky to have these little friends living near you!
Fantastic pictures AJ! I love watching hummingbirds!
Wow! These are awesome. My Dad would totally love these pictures. He has dozens of bird houses and feeders in his yard. So far, he has never had a hummingbird.
Oh AJ that photography is absolutely amazing. It may be just an ordinary old camera if you say so but the photography belongs to the user. Those little birds are just so beautiful; I would dearly love to see one in real life. Looking forward to seeing them in the future in your artwork, not too distant future, I hope.
Great pictures of the hummingbirds. They are so fun to watch, especially when they fight. I love to hear the little chatter sounds they make.
I can’t wait to see the hummers show up in your artwork! I’ll be first in line to purchase as I’m sure I’ll be using whatever you come up with in gifties to my 80 y/o father. For years, he has had tons of hummingbirds at his home…he says he has to take out a loan to buy sugar to make the nectar. LOL! Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures!
I love the hummingbirds that come to feed on the trellis plants on my deck. They are absolutely amazing creations. You are truly blessed to have so many, they are truly beautiful. It would be a great idea to paint some!