This afternoon I noticed the hummingbirds were back at the feeder. After having neglected it for several weeks or more, I had refilled it 2 days ago. Every 10 minutes or so 2 males would come in to feed, and they weren’t happily sharing. It had been a while since I had photographed the little creatures so I pulled out my 30d and 70-200mm IS lens with 2x converter and pulled up a lawn chair to where I was about 7 feet from the feeder, so I could get some really tight shots. Using manual settings I preset the focus and set the exposure to f16 so I would have a decent depth of field. The little guys come and go so fast the auto focus doesn’t have time to work properly. Usually I use a tripod and remote shutter release but this time I hand held and braced my elbow on the chairs arm and waited for them to fly into the picture. It’s a numbers game, for every 10 shots you get 1 decent one. This species is called Anna’s Hummingbird. Here in the Sierra Foothills it’s the only species not to migrate to Mexico during the winter. The males are distinguished by the bright red feathers around the head.
Speaking of migrating to Mexico, on Saturday I’m headed to Mazatlan for 9 glorious days. I will shoot Debbie and Thompsons sunset wedding on the beach on Sunday. Very much looking forward to shorts, sandals, swimming pools, and table tennis.
One of the cats seemed a little interested in the birds as well.