She Kept A Parrot
A Journal For Charlie
Taunting Hummers
DANG HUMMERS!
Does anybody see a Hummer here? Me either!
Ah-Ha! (after 4 crops) Here’s one … sort of. No, it’s two! I think. If not, he’s got a bad wing problem.
Is that little sucker laughing at me? I do believe he is!
Okay, Bubba… I found a friendly bromeliad to admire. She sits still. I like her. Stop stuffing yourself and get on home, now!
45 Comments on “Taunting Hummers”
Comments
She Kept A Parrot 
Wow! I tried the same with butterflies a while ago. So hard to capture!
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I needed to set the shutter speed up a few notches to stop the motion. They do flit right in and out of the frame, don’t they? Silly little guys!
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My photographing skill are to new to even know what you are talking about! LOL
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I know you’re supposed to do that. I don’t yet know how, mind you. I just discovered “aperture priority” mode. Your photographs are superb. As long as you can do that kind of photography without knowing the technical stuff, keep at it just the same way you do. 🙂
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Thanks!! 🙂 I’m sure eventually I will figure it out. I just bought my first “semi” professional camera. You know, not a cool pix, but not a removable lens…
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You must have one heck of a camera to capture the wings that clearly. All I can say is WOW!
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Thanks, Lorna. People who set a fast shutter speed actually stop the action of those little birds in mid-air. They are fascinating creatures.
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Haha I can imagine they must be very difficult to photograph! I’d love to see one though, we don’t have them over here.
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You make me smile, George. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your gift; both of them.
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🙂 Thanks for liking them.
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What a great post George, that little hummingbird is so beautiful and different to the ones I’ve seen here.
There was a time where I used to take photos of them all the time, they are such a nice subject, althought they are hard to capture.
Love the photo of the bromelia, the colors are so pretty.
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Beautiful shots George, loved the captions 🙂
and ya she is laughing 😯
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I saw that little head thrown back in laughter! 🙂
I’m glad you liked the photo story. I’m going to get that closeup photo if it kills me!
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lucky…we don’t have any here!
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Very nice shots. Are those trumpet vines? My hubby wants to plant some for the hummers.
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This one is a Carolina Trumpet. It has much larger woody vine parts that will destroy whatever you grow it on. I had a beautiful regular trumpet that did not grow those huge limbs. The regular one grew over a twenty foot fence line onto the iron gate and was a solid mass of blossoms every year.
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Oh funny! But you got him! That is huge, I can’t even get a picture of the darned blue jays sitting quietly in the bird feeder. They so toy with me! The color of the jasmine is gorgeous.
elisa
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Surely you couldn’t be worse than I am! I see those wonderful photos you post! I have a blue jay nest in a tree here, but I stopped seeing the jays coming. Dunno what happened to them. I have a cute photo of a baby who got on my porch. He’s standing there glaring at me. I finally threw a towel over him and let him go outside.
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The only opportunity I’ve ever had to photograph a bird up close was when a cedar waxwing flew into our window and sat stunned on the bush right outside the house. He was so gorgeous with an amazing edging of bright yellow on his tail! I just didn’t have the heart to go out there with my camera when he was already petrified. Tried it through the window though! I’ll be thinking of you when the hummingbirds come this year..they like our butterfly bushes.
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Ha ha ha! 😀 I can imagine the scene perfectly. I do exactly the same thing. Imagine me (with my Lumix) trying to capture a hummingbird! I’m always trying to get right up ON my subjects, which of course won’t work at all with a hummer. You managed actually to capture the little guy (and part of his friend). Not bad!
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I think I actually do have a lens that I can set up on a tripod outside the back door. They aren’t more than ten feet away from me. They love the Carolina Jasmine. That one little guy just sits there as sassy as can be and looks at me! I told him that I’m going to get him sooner or later! I cannot imagine how you capture those phenomenal photos with your equipment. Talent, George, talent….
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Ohhh, I bet they do love the Carolina Jasmine. They become quite sure of themselves, hummingbirds. My parents have such large numbers of hummingbirds in Maine, that they (the ruby-throats) will actually wait in line in the trees to have a turn at the various feeders that are on the deck. We can be sitting just a few feet from them while they whizzzzz back and forth. They grow more and more comfortable with us the longer we sit out there, and soon don’t even notice we’re there. I have managed to get good video of their traffic patterns at the feeders.
By the way, I wondered if you have ever tried a monopod. I know Michael mentioned to you a few weeks ago the gorillapod that he got recently, and my sister recently gave me one of those, too, and I am already having some fun with that, but I finally cracked out my monopod the other day and thought of you. Now that I’ve tried it, I’m definitely planning to use it more often. It’s super light weight, and so easy to use (much easier than lugging around a tripod, I imagine, although I don’t have a tripod myself, so, I’m only basing that on what others have said). It just offers nice, easy stability. I actually just left my camera attached to it the other day (when I was experimenting with it) and adjusted the height when I needed to and I had an immediate steady surface at all times.
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JC gave me one. I haven’t used it. I will though. He used it the other day to shoot some hummers. It must be stable enough for his canon and that long, white lens he uses that’s really heavy. Of course, he’s very tall and strong. I’ll try it! Thanks.
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Great photo series, George. Cracked me up! I have planters right outside our windows so we can watch the hummingbirds feed. They are fascinating creatures. Once, when my sister was painting, a hummingbird landed on the handle of her paintbrush and perched there for a second or two before flying away.
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A friend of mine used to feed so many of them that they would dive bomb her on the way to the feeders. She was afraid they’d hit her eyes! I don’t feed them, but they like the trumpet vine blossoms so they swarm over the pergola. How cute that he landed on her brush. What a photo op that was! 🙂
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Oh my dear George, this little bird is amazing… amazing. You captured beautiful photographs… Thank you, with my love, nia
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I told him that I am going to get a good photo of him sooner or later! He sits there and stares at me as if to say, “You can’t catch me!” They are cute little things and amazing to watch. They even have family spats!
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LOVE this!!!
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I swear I’m gonna’ get him! Ha Ha. He thinks he’s too fast for me. (He might be…)
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They’re SO fast! I think you did just fine!
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I’m going to set up a tripod at my back door. I’m determined to get that little guy who sits there all smug and looks at me! 🙂
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You’ll get him! I have great confidence in you and your determination 🙂
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🙂
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Fantastic!
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Thanks, Gran! These are horrible photos. That’s why I’m annoyed with these little critters. I can’t seem to photograph them! 🙂
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amazing creatures. never seen one in person.
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They’re highly overrated.
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really? oh. then i’ll just have a sandwich. lil’ buzzing bastards.
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Ha-Ha I bet twenty or so all trussed up and BBQ’d would taste just like chicken.
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so would a shoe with enough BBQ sauce.
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Just like chicken.
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You two must eat the worse chicken ever!
I love your hummingbirds George!
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Ha Ha. Being from Louisiana, you’d know that anything you throw in the pot “tastes just like chicken” if anybody asks! 😉
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I used to cook frog’s legs “a la poulette” and that tasted just like chicken.
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That is what everybody says, but I always thought the texture was too different for a frog leg to taste much like chicken! 🙂
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