Shooting Hummingbirds
posted by Keith at 9:27 PMMy backyard hummingbird feeders have been claimed by a beautiful mature male Rufous hummingbird. I have had the feeders up for almost three years and I have never seen one like it until this year. I want to show a good shot of it to you, but the little devil won't let me get the correct exposure.
That bird is smart. I can tell when it is in the back yard because I can hear it fly from branch to branch. It doesn't hum like other hummers. It has a distinct whistle in its wings. When I hear it, I grab my camera and get positioned to take some shots at the most visible feeder. I have seen it there before, but it refuses to go there while I am waiting for it. I can feel its eyes on me as it hides in the tree but I sure can't see it, so we wait, and wait. I have even tried faking it out by turning my back on it, but it doesn't buy into that. All I have to do is put the camera down and start doing some yard work and it will appear. It must know how to work a camera because it refuses to show itself unless it's sure that I'll shoot it with the wrong exposure.
This Rufous has a cousin with a cloaking device. It's a male Anna's and it is much harder to see than the Rufous. That's probably because they hate each other. Even though the Rufous is smaller than the Anna's, it has the upper hand in a territorial fight, so the Anna's has to sneak in while the Rufous isn't watching.
As far as I can tell, that bird is always watching, so it has been a challenge to capture a shot of the Anna's.
This shot is proof that this Anna's hummingbird has a cloaking device. I managed to catch it just before it disappeared.
Here's the same bird hiding in the shadows behind the feeder.
Maybe I'll shoot them with a 12 gauge shotgun. Just kidding. I love those cute little spawns of Satan. I am going to keep trying to get a decent shot of both of them. They usually don't hang around for long so I had better get them while I can.
Cross posted here
Keith
