The Anna's Hummingbird is larger than the Rufous and Black Chins that visit my garden. Their wings are also larger and I find that the stop action of the camera will sometimes catch Anna's wings separating as they move through the figure 8 wing motion of their flight. This female was also in defense mode with her tail feathers fanned. The white tips on the outer three are one means of defining a female from a male.

This young male Anna's came into my feeders several days back making the loudest 'hum' I've ever heard! Upon closer observatoin, it appeared he may have had some under-developed tail feathers. Don't know if that was what accounted for the louder than normal sound. I did notice that his attitude was not lacking in the least as I watched him time and again challenge the Rufous that had claimed the feeder.

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View On Black

Picture Rocks, Pima County, Arizona. In flight. Bird was so close, it barely fit in the frame. Original size shows individual feather barbules distinctly.

Hotshoe mounted flash on manual @ 1/8th power. Started out using TTL but he was so fast that the preflashes were scaring him out of focus range by the time the flash fired. Got photos of him flying sideways but he was out of focus.

Male Ruby-throated hummingbird flying in the garden.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Honey Bee flying near Petunias.

All hands on deck... Hummingbird and Honey Bee showdown.

This Ruby-throated Hummingbird is half flying and half perched on a Dragon Wing Begonia leaf. He did this for some time before settling on the edge of the leaf.

Secuencia de vuelo de un colibri (flying sequence of a hummingbird)

#EXPLORED 2011-09-19 Num.446

It looks like a showdown in paradise. This Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Bumblebee are about as close as they can get with having a fight.

Male Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) maneuvering near a feeder.

A companion photo of sorts to this one on black from a couple of days ago.

Strobist Info: Two speedlights (Canon 540EZs) at 1/16 ganged in shoot-through umbrella from slightly above subject, camera left. Silver reflector (foil) below subject, camera right. Two speedlights (SB-700 and SB-800) at 1/32 (+2/3) onto white foamcore backdrop. Phottix Strato II wireless triggers on the 540EZs. SB-700 and SB-800 triggered by optical slave.

My other hummingbird photos can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/92747424@N05/albums/72157643388058603

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird feeding on Salvia.

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird flying in the garden. Explored.

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying near Morning Glory vines. Explored.

Ruby Throated Hummingbird feeding on Salvia. Explored.

probably one of my better exposures of these lovely creatures....shooting them definitely improves your hand eye coordination - almost like a video game

View On Black

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying near Morning Glory.

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird in flight near Petunias. Explored.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying in the garden. Explored.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding on Salvia. From a different point of view.

Removed stem from feeder

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying in the garden.

Two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds on a merry chase through the Morning Glory vine. No place too narrow, no place too tight. If I just had a full frame DSLR I could have gotten the whole picture. "Honey, I need a new Nikon D4 for Christmas".

Ruby-throated Hummingbird watching a Honeybee. Explored.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird blinking, with a Honey Bee flying very close by. Is that a blink, squint, or cringe? I think a cringe. Too close for comfort. Explored.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird facing two Honey Bees near a Morning Glory vine.

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Hum a few bars. Here is another photo of the female Ruby throated hummingbird from the other evening. Most hummingbirds in North America migrate to Central and Southern America during the winter.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding on a Firecracker plant.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Salvia.

Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying in the garden.

I still have a few straggling migratory hummingbirds moving through my garden. I recently found a pop up camouflage blind that I tried out yesterday for bird photography. I'm hoping to put it to good use this winter to get a little closer to the song bird action. I've posted a photo of it below.

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying in the garden. Explored.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird surveying a selection of pink flowers.

Female or juvenile Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) hovering near feeder.

Inspired by the fine work of many others in the various hummingbird groups (I highly recommend a look at Jim Craig's and Bill Gracey's photostreams, for example), I decided to have another play at using a multiple-flash low-power setup for shorter flash duration. Here, I used four speedlights in a shoot-through umbrella and a reflector for fill.

Strobist Info: Four speedlights (SB-800, SB-700 and two 540EZs, each at 1/32) ganged in shoot-through umbrella from slightly above subject, camera left. Silver reflector (foil) below subject, camera right. Phottix Strato II wireless triggers on the 540EZs with sync cord to SB-800. SB-700 triggered by optical slave. Background is black foam core.

My other hummingbird photos can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/92747424@N05/albums/72157643388058603

Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying toward Penta flowers.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying in the garden. Explored.

This little Ruby-throated Hummingbird is "talking" to another Hummingbird that is out of the frame.

Two Ruby Throated Hummingbirds going "mano a mano".

Ruby Throated Hummingbird flying in the garden. Explored.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird flying in the garden. Explored.

The first post of the 2012 Hummingbird season. Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Honey Bee in flight. This looked like a good one to start it off.

it was diving in and out of the water taking a shower...

Hummingbird approaching the flowers.