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.

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.

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.

Saturday, June 2, 2007
Armored Bee

Well my description was not quite as scientific as I usually like... "Big Black Bee!" But it's late and I was not able to track her down. I did have fun taking pictures of her though! Her copper colored wings were reflecting the evening sun beautifully! I was trying to get a shot that really hilted the wings and their amazing structure but this ended up being my favorite.

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, December 5, 2006
Popular Rose

It looks like there's gonna be a fight!

Actually, they got along really well and shared the flower. At one point there was even a third bee.

I have been known to chase bees, but in this case I was drawn to this scene by the same thing they were. There are a lot of beautiful roses out there but the yellow/red variegated varieties are my favorites!

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.

Monday, July 31, 2006
Hovering Bee

She's been busy! I am surprised she can still fly with all that pollen on her legs.

Sunday, April 30, 2006
Nun Bee

The sun came out today!!! Not something that would normally be such a surprise in California, but this year you have to take it one day at a time.

In honor of our beautiful sunny day we decided to take a bit of a rose garden tour. We went to the Mission rose garden and the rose garden at Fess Parker's Resort on Cabrillo.

This was one of my favorite roses of the day. I was actually taking pictures of it before the bee flew into the picture. She was quite the ham! She hovered all around in front of the rose for me.

Monday, November 7, 2005
Hovering Bee

If you have been watching the site for a while you know that I like to chase bees. So far this has turned out well for me. I assume my luck will run out eventually, but for now it's making for some really nice shots.

This one even made it to one of my greeting cards.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Hummingbird Tongue

I like the motion in this photo. I am not particularly fond of the frozen hummingbird photos you see in calendars and other places. They use a fast strobe to freeze all the action and it makes them look like stuffed animals.

This girl was just finished eating. She leapt from the feeder with her tongue still sticking out. They seem to like to lick their beak after eating, they are a lot of fun to watch.

Monday, May 23, 2005
Dropin' in for Lunch

It was a good weekend. It was the 40th anniversary of the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts show. The show is usually only on Sundays, but since it was a special occasion some of the artists were out there on Saturday too.

Unfortunately it was a big weekend for other things in town. A car show and a Volleyball tournament combined with temperatures 13 degrees above made for a slow weekend. The good thing is, I am not just out there for the sales. :-)

I love talking to people about my photography. Hummingbirds in particular seem to bring about great conversations. I have heard wonderful stories about peoples' interactions with these amazing creatures.

Today I talked to a very nice couple visiting from Germany, they had been traveling the coast and seemed to be having a wonderful time. We talked about Big Sur and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where they had been. And the wonderful hummingbirds they had seen. The man told me how he had just mentioned to his wife how the perfect job would be to travel up and down the California Coast and take pictures of nature and wildlife, and there I was!

So today's photo of the day was his choice. From the selection of Hummingbird prints I had at the beach, this was his favorite.