This morning the sun rose far in the north (as it's only been a week since the summer solstice) and brightly lit our hummingbird feeders, which are located on the north side of our house. I took advantage of this to take some photos. You can see the nine that came out well by clicking the photo at the very bottom; this will take you to an album.
The male hummingbird at right is a Costa's hummingbird (Calypte costae). While these are very common in San Diego County, until this year they haven't been particularly abundant at our feeders. This year we have at least a dozen males every day (based on how many we see at the same time). This morning while I was taking my photos, one of the Costa's males swooped in from behind my head and went into a hover about six inches from my eyeballs -- and stayed there for a good 15 seconds, just checking me out. What a view I had of him! A little while later, a different male Costa's landed on my camera, just an inch or so from my forehead (I had my eye to the viewfinder). I felt the air from his wings and the sound, so I knew he was there. I backed away from my camera ever-so-slowly, and he stayed right here, not looking concerned at all. After resting for 30 seconds or so, he flew over to swill some hummer juice...
Photographing a hummingbird perched is a challenge; getting one in flight approaches impossibility! This morning I managed to get three decent photos of flying hummers, the best I've ever done in one photo shoot. The bright morning light helped, as it allows the camera to focus more quickly. The photo at right was taken at 1/250th of a second, from a distance of about 18 inches, just as the hummer was about to land on a feeder. I managed to get the camera on her at about six feet away, and just held the shutter release down and tracked her on the way in. This one nicely shows how their entire body is involved in the complex aerodynamic and mechanical dance that is their landing -- and which they make look so easy...  |
| Hummers 1 |
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