Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Emerald Hummer

This is my friend from the other day. I thought you might enjoy seeing his beautiful green back. Like I said, I have a few more shots to go through so I'm sure you'll see more of him in the coming photos of the day. This was one of his other favorite perches. I really liked the alternating diagonal lines, but he was usually sitting at an area that was behind another bush. I got lucky this one time when he decided to land further out.

One other interesting thing in the comparison of the two shots is the fact that his head and throat plumage is very directional. If you have never seen one of these guys up close, that is not a trick of the camera. The feathers are amazingly iridescent when he looks right at you. So much so that my computer has trouble dealing with the details in them from the hot color of the feathers. But when he looks away, the same feathers look almost black. I love the details in nature! That is why I can happily spend hours on the same subject and still go back for more.

Sunday, September 14, 2008
Seaside Hummer

We spent the afternoon yesterday wandering around the Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria. It is the best place to get hummer photos, there are enough flowers there to support a bunch of them in a much smaller area than they would normally be comfortable with. This guy was one of my favorite subjects. He had about four or five favorite perches. I followed him from one to the next getting a little closer on each circuit. I started taking photos when I was still far away from him so he would get used to the sound of the shutter. After about five or six trips around his space he got comfortable enough for me to get this shot. I have no idea how long it took seemed like only a few minutes, but there were hundreds of images when I was done.

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Hummer in the Mallow

This guy is sitting on a branch in our Sea Tree Mallow. He is waiting for me to fill up the hummingbird feeder. Don't you just hate it when your favorite restaurant makes you wait. It's so hard to get good service. It's a good thing our most popular hummingbird appetizers are blooming right now.

Saturday, March 1, 2008
Iridescent Anna's

It was a bit of a gray day today. But there was still enough sunlight to show off this guy's beautiful plumage.

Saturday, December 22, 2007
Carmel Valley Hummer

Today we took a nice trip to a nursery in Carmel Valley. It's one of my favorite places to chase humming birds. There are always a bunch of them but there is one in particular that seems to like to play. He keeps buzzing me and then sitting and waiting for me to get almost close enough for the shot I want before taking off again. I'm sure he's having as much fun with me as I am with him. Fortunately, he usually takes pity on the big lumbering beast with the 300 millimeter nose and lets me get a few nice shots.

Saturday, September 8, 2007
Fuzzy Contemplation

Like I've said before, the subject is important but the background can really make or break the image. The pink around the hummingbird is from the flowers (or more technically the bracts) of the Bougainvillea he is resting in. I love the contrast with his beautiful feathers.

This is actually an older shot, it was in my first show. The show was a flower theme, but interspersed in the flowers were small shots of hummingbirds. Seemed fitting to me. :-D

Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Hummer in the Bush

It's taken a while but we have built up some nice traffic to our hummingbird feeders in the back yard. Originally I thought our umbrella was blocking their view of potential threats and scaring them away. When we put it down for a while they came closer and started eating at our feeder that is hung the highest. Now that they are more comfortable, the umbrella is back up and they seem to like the seclusion of it. We have two lower feeders that are almost under the umbrella and they are emptied the fastest. I even got scolded today when the lower feeders were empty!

Sunday, August 19, 2007
Nappin' in the Golden Hour

This is my friend from the other day. Like I said he was back in the evening, and the light just kept getting more and more beautiful.

Friday, August 17, 2007
After Dinner Nap

Truth be known it is more of a DURING dinner nap. He was sitting there napping and licking his chops. Then, every so often, he would wake up (almost) then lean over and take a few sips. He let me get very close, but his friend (mom?) was a little excited at one point. I don't think I freaked them out too much though because they came back later in the evening after leaving for a bit to let me clean the feeder and make fresh food. He was watching, because I barely had the feeder back up and he was on it while I was still standing there.

The last time we had a hummer do this he was staking out the back yard to raise a family. I'm not sure it is the right time of year for that, but I'll be watching.

Friday, July 27, 2007
Reflective Hummer

This was at the same nursery as the hummer from the other day. This guy was just being thoughtful in the filtered light. He was watching me intently as I got closer. He did not seem scared. He was more curious I think. He kept tilting his head from side to side. He probably knew the big lumbering beast that was stuck on the ground could never get close enough to bother him.

I love the way the side lighting shows every feather on his face.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Mimosa Hummer

Last week we had the pleasure of exploring some beautiful nurseries in Carmel Valley near Monterey. It was a great place to chase hummers.

Saturday, July 14, 2007
Beak Cleaning

Hummers seem to like to clean their beaks after they eat. For that matter, my finch seems to like to do that too.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Hummer in Flight

She just hovered there for a while. I think she was as interested in checking me out as I was interested in her. She did not seem scared. (It probably did not hurt that there were about 20 other hummingbirds around and I had not eaten any of them yet.) She sat and ate casually after she was done looking at me. I'm glad she stopped though, it made for a much nicer shot.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Two Thirty

I love sun dials. Hopefully someday soon we'll have space for a nice one. Of course I'll probably just fill the space up with more plants. But that's ok too. :-D

Friday, June 15, 2007
Hovering Hummer

I have been chasing the hummingbirds around here for the last two weeks. Trying to get them comfortable with me and my camera. Today this one came to me. She decided to have dinner at our backyard feeder. Fortunately this was her second helping, so I had my camera all ready when she showed up.

Friday, June 1, 2007
Sunset Dinner Flight

The hummers have gone wild around here lately. We have three feeders up, but it is a little hard to compete with all the flowers. There are actually three birds that fight over this bush regularly. Even though the bush has plenty to go around.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Anna

We were looking at roses the other day at La Sumida Nursery on Patterson in Goleta. I was minding my own business when I heard this buzzzzz over my head. She was having a great time buzzing the roses and me, but with a little patience I was able to find her resting spot in the top of a Pomegranate tree.

Thursday, November 2, 2006
Taking Flight

The hound loves to explore new territory. I guess she's sniffed all there is to smell at home. Yesterday we got to take a walk along the bluff in Shell Beach, just north of Pismo Beach. Near the end of our walk we heard a bit of chattering from a bush. Upon further examination we found the hiding place of a beautiful hummingbird. Unfortunately the sun was too low in the sky to get a good shot so when we went out for our walk today I checked the bush and sure enough, that must be home for this guy!

I took quite a few shots, this is where he was just about tired of playing with me. He is just starting to take flight. You can see his left wing rising behind his back.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Green Hummer

She thought she was blending in pretty well, but I saw her fly in.

Saturday, September 9, 2006
Anna

We when to a beautiful place in Carpinteria today called Seaside Gardens. Seaside Gardens is a nursery and botanic garden. They had some amazing plants. And it was a hummingbirds' paradise.

One of the things I liked about the Gardens is they had the plants separated by country of origin, both in the sales area and the nicely designed botanic gardens.

So, if you are in the area and you find yourself in need of a Lotus for your Koi pond or anything else remotely exotic just get off the 101 at Exit 88 (Padero Lane or Santa Claus Lane) go toward the mountains and turn right. Seaside Gardens will be on your left.

Friday, September 1, 2006
Hummer-Hawk

She looks like she is perched, just waiting for lunch to scurry by. The only problem with that is flowers usually don't scurry.

In reality, she is stretching her neck out and tilting her head back and forth trying to figure out why there is a strange creature with a 300mm nose stalking her.

Monday, August 14, 2006
Sleepy Hummer

Well I did not get my hummingbird feeder this weekend, but at least I got the hummingbird! :-D

Sunday, May 7, 2006
Costa's Hummingbird

I like this shadow of this guy on the feeder, nice profile!

Friday, January 27, 2006
Relaxing Hummer

This is a little guy who had a little too much to eat. He had just finished eating at a feeder and he flew over to the Bougainvillea and fluffed out to rest.