Butterflies and Hummingbird Photos

The butterflies and hummingbirds were in love with the flowering shrubs around the pool in Castroville, TX. I took my camera to the pool and watched for hummingbirds while I swam. I’d climb out of the pool, dry my hands and the hummingbirds would usually leave, but the butterflies stayed and posed with the yellow and red flowers. The shrub has common names of Pride of Barbados, orRed Bird of Paradise, mimosa-like leaves and seed pods.

broadtail hummingbird photos

Doing the broadtail boogie, this hummingbird posed for me and the camera yesterday. After a quick sip from a flower, this hummer struck several hovering poses in front of the camera probably trying to get me to back off and stay away from the flowers.

Summer Hummer ID?

This might be an immature rufous, I see them every year at this time and wonder about the ID. It’s hard to get good hummer ID information on the females and young, while easy to find photos and descriptions of the colorful males.

This hummingbird was acting like a male rufous and has some of the right color, but no red orange gorget. He (she, it?) sat on the tip of a dead branch about 30 feet from the flowers and feeder on my deck twisting and turning to watch for other birds. Whenever another hummer would come near the flowers or feeder, this one was quick to chase the other away.

In evening sunlight at 1/160 sec, f/8, 300mm, ISO 200, August 20, 2007.

Here Comes Trouble…

Let the hummer wars begin.

Rufous is here now guarding the flowers and feeders and chasing all others away. The broadtails are sneaking in to the feeder when they can for a quick sip and early this morning before there was enough light for photographing it, a male calliope hummingbird was here for a drink.

Rufous sits on the tip of a dead douglas fir branch to keep an eye out for intruders. He doesn’t seem to know that he’s the intruder here. The broadtails arrived months ago.

Rufous is like the grade school bully who thinks he has to make up for his small size by being faster and meaner than everyone else. For those of you who haven’t met rufous, you can see how small he is in the image below where he sits on a feeder with a 5 inch tall bottle.

Rufous will stay for about a month and then he will move on. He’s already ’summered’ in the north and will continue his southward migration sometime next month. Rufous hummingbirds nest as far north as southern Alaska and winter in Mexico. They travel northward in spring through the pacific lowlands and make the return trip mid summer through the Rockies to take advantage of peak wildflower times.

The male rufous’ gorget (the iridescent throat patch) reflects bright orange-red when light hits the feathers. The feathers of the gorget direct light in a single direction so that the color seems to change from dull brown-red to bright orange-red as the bird flies about.

Rufous is a little harder than the broadtails to photograph on the wing. I need bright sunlight so I can get my shutter speed quite high. My most popular rufous image can be seen here.

favorite perch

The broadtails are fighting over favorite perches near the currant bushes loaded with tiny pink flowers. They like perches with a 360 degree view so they can see the competition coming. Sitting on the tip of a dead branch, the hummingbird looks left, right, and back twisting and turning his head above late May’s food of choice – the wild wax currant flowers. Though they perch elsewhere, this little upward pointing twig is the spot they most often choose. The first image was taken last evening in the after glow of sunset. The next one, this morning, same place but from a slightly different angle to take advantage of the morning light.

1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400, focal length 300mm

1/640 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, focal length 300mm

For a look at a broadtail feeding on a currant flower, go to this page of my website: http://www.dailyphotography.net/hummingbird_gallery/pages/natural_food.htm

Looking for more fox kit photos? A new gallery of fox kit photos is on my website now. http://www.dailyphotography.net/redfoxgallery/index.htm

This Evening’s Hummer, Yesterday’s Fox

This broad-tail hummingbird’s image was captured just after sunset this evening as he sat on a choke cherry branch with ponderosa boughs in the background. The late afternoon rain left everything dripping and the clouds reflected nice colors long after sunset. Shot at 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400, with 70-300mm lens at 300mm.

Yesterday morning I filled a couple of cf cards with fox images. I haven’t had time to look at all of them, but this one is typical, mom cleaning behind her kit’s ear. There are three kits, each with it’s own look and personality. This image was shot in mid morning sunlight at 1/800 sec. f/4.5, ISO200, with 70-300 lens at 120mm.

Kits, Hummingbirds, and Spring

Spring has finally pushed winter aside. Fox kits are emerging from their dens, hummingbirds are fighting over feeders and wax currant flowers, and raindrops are replacing snowflakes. Just over a week ago, we had a foot of snow with phone and power outages (again!) and ice on the windshields last Monday morning. But now, the weather is warm and springs seems truly to be here.

Friends Cris and Glen invited me over to photograph the fox family living under their deck. The beautiful kits won’t be this size for long. Startled by the sound of the camera, they would run back under the deck and bark for their mother who seemed bored and not at all concerned at the people watching from the window.

shooting the moon

At dusk Saturday evening I was shooting a broadtail hummer in an aspen, but it was too dark to get a good shot, so I shot the moon. Here are both the moon and the bird: