Sunday, November 20, 2011
Iridescent Hummer

This guy was pretty suspicious of me. There was really no way for me to easily get much closer to him, but he was not taking any chances. He was tilting his head back and forth trying to size me up, which was actually great since it flashed his beautiful feathers every time he moved.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Anna's Hummingbird

The hummingbirds are quite active around here these days. They seem to like to taunt me any time I'm outside without my camera. I have not had time to chase them down, this guy was from a walk at Seaside Gardens. Hopefully I'll get out with my camera to chase the hummers tomorrow.

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, 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!

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.

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.

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.

Sunday, July 30, 2006
Oriole Eating Seeds

Well, at least I think it's an Oriole. She's beautiful whatever she is. She was flittering from bush to bush looking for seeds. There was actually quite a breeze and she was swinging wildly on this small branch.

Friday, March 3, 2006
Crazy Finch

Ahh he's a great bird!

This is his scratchin' perch. He comes over there when he wants a good bird scratchin'. Not something your average Finch would do. They are usually quite a bit more high strung.

But, hey bird, you are almost 7 months past your "best by" date!

This is not his first appearance here.

Sunday, May 29, 2005
Hummingbird Silhouette

If I really wanted to, I could tweak this and get some detail out of the Hummingbird. But I like him completely in silhouette. They seem so thoughtful when they are perched like this.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Hummer Tongue

Hummers are very interesting. One of the things I find interesting is their habit of licking their beak after eating. This shot only got about half of his tongue.

Or maybe... they just don't like their pictures taken? This guy lives in the garden area of a Nursery in Carpinteria. Pretty cool place to live if you're a hummer. I have another shot of him online here.

Sunday, February 13, 2005
Isla Vista Hummer

The day I took this I was supposed to be practicing pastels in a class at Island View Nursery in Carpinteria. But once there is a hummingbird around I can't think of doing anything but taking pictures.

Monday, January 3, 2005
Morning Salutation

Humming birds are incredible to watch, this guy was sitting in a huge Bougainvillea above my head. They have a habit of making a sound that makes you think they are dive-bombing you but they are usually sitting still when they make that sound. When they call they put their beak in the air and the feathers on their throat stick straight out. This photo was taken just after he had made the call and he was in the middle of a good post-breakfast stretch.