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Why This Photo Is Meaningful to Me: I spend a long time trying to take a photo of this hummingbird and when he/she did settle and looked at me, it made me smile all day.
Taken during family weekend vacation to Bull River Guest Ranch, BC. Great weather, scenery, food and the place was literally buzzing with hummers = awesome holiday!
Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) is a medium-sized stocky hummingbird native to the west coast of North America. This bird was named after Anna Masséna, Duchess of Rivoli. In the early 20th century, Anna's hummingbird bred only in northern Baja California and southern California. The transplanting of exotic ornamental plants in residential areas throughout the Pacific coast and inland deserts provided expanded nectar and nesting sites, and the species was able to expand its breeding range greatly.
Anna's hummingbird is 3.9 to 4.3 in (9.9 to 10.9 cm) long. It has an iridescent bronze-green back, a pale grey chest and belly, and green flanks. Its bill is long, straight and slender. The adult male has an iridescent crimson-red derived from magenta to a reddish-pink crown and gorget, which can look dull brown or gray without direct sunlight, and a dark, slightly forked tail. Female Anna's hummingbirds also have iridescent red gorgets, though they are usually smaller and less brilliant than the males'. Anna's is the only North American hummingbird species with a red crown. Females and juvenile males have a dull green crown, a grey throat with or without some red iridescence, a grey chest and belly, and a dark, rounded tail with white tips on the outer feathers.
These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue. They also consume small insects and other arthropods caught in flight or glean from vegetation. A PBS documentary shows how Anna's hummingbirds eat flying insects.[4] They aim for the flying insect, then open their beaks very wide. That technique has a greater success rate than trying to aim the end of a long beak at the insect. On rare occasions, bees and wasps may become impaled on the bill of an Anna's hummingbird, causing the bird to starve to death.
While collecting nectar, they also assist in plant pollination. This species sometimes consumes tree sap. The male's call is scratchy metallic, and it perches above head-level in trees and shrubs. They are frequently seen in backyards and parks, and commonly found at feeders and flowering plants.
A recent study found that the Anna's hummingbird can shake their bodies 55 times per second while in flight. This shimmy, when done in dry weather, can shake off pollen or dirt from their feathers similar to how a wet shake by a dog removes water. This rate of shaking is the fastest of any vertebrate on earth.
My Grandson, Tristen gave me a Hummingbird feeder for my birthday in May, because he knew how obsessed I was trying to photograph these little guys. I hung it up just before I went to Connecticut, and when I came home it was completely empty. I just figured it had a leak. Today I refilled it and I gotta tell you the little guys were visiting throughout the day. Since I have to take the pic through a window, there wasn't much sun today, and I need to figure out the right distance and setting, I only caught this little girl, even though the more brilliantly colored male was here many times, too. Makes me very happy.
Not easy to photograph these lovely animals. A feeding station for them but still not really close enough!
Not the finest images, but the subjects are fun to photograph! Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico USA
Taking a picture of a hummingbird is like swatting a wasp. You need to anticipate where he will go next.
I'm really trying to get a good shot of this resident hummingbird.
This was shot at ISO6400 handheld at 400mm. I need to make use of my monopod, but this guy doesn't stop like the above photo. He moves from Heliconian to Heliconian quickly.
I think there are 3 residents on this property (seen 3 hummingbirds chasing each other), but I want a sharp photo of at least one of them.
6 more days to try and get a tack-sharp photo of one of these guys
The garden was filled with hummingbirds! Tim and I have never been so close to these birds. They were adorable!
This shot is special because of the red. It's the sun shining through the feeder onto the bird. I thought it was unique.