Saturday, December 28, 2013
Wing Span

I once saw a cat with a lens this big. He thought he could fool me by walking on two feet.

Thursday, December 5, 2013
Late Afternoon Flight

On an afternoon walk at the beach recently we noticed this hummingbird who seemed to be contemplating the sinking late afternoon sun. It took a little manuvering, but I was able to get a few silhouette shots just as he took flight. This is a double exposure of two successive frames. In the first frame he had released his grip on the perch and spread his wings, but not actually taken flight yet. Only one sixth of a second later he was moving fast. Fast enough to leave me staring into the glare of the sun with no idea where he'd gone after that.

Sunday, September 8, 2013
Stretch

After a big meal it's nice to go back to your favorite perch, stretch your wings and relax!

Saturday, August 31, 2013
Annas

This beautiful little creature was watching me quite intently. He seemed as interested in me as I was in him. He was probably just trying to figure out what the beast with the 300mm nose was doing to decide if it was a threat. But over the years I've found a patent slow approach usually puts them at ease. After a few minutes I was able to get close enough to get the shot I was looking for.

Thursday, December 20, 2012
Annas in Flight

This is another shot of one of the beautiful Anna's hummingbirds I was following around Valley Hills Nursery in Carmel. It looks like a beautiful spring day, but a beautiful nursery can make any day look like a beautiful spring day in California.

Saturday, December 15, 2012
Thoughtful Hummer

This little guy was actually as interested in me as I was in him. He flew around a bit and kept coming back to this spot. As I moved closer and closer every few shots, he would tilt his head back and forth seemingly trying to see what I was up to. Even at rest he was graceful and beautiful.

Thursday, December 6, 2012
Nectar Sample

This is another shot of my friend from the Carmel Nursery. This is after he got bored with me. He watched me for a while, tilting his head back and forth, and when he decided I was safe or maybe not very interesting, he decided to make the rounds to his favorite flowers. He was so graceful as he hovered from flower to flower.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Taking Flight

This weekend between rainstorms, I had the great pleasure of wandering around a beautiful nursery in Carmel California. Valley Hills Nursery is one of my favorite spots to visit when I'm in the area, and not only for thier plants. They always have a very friendly Hummingbird population, this weekend they seemed to be even more cooperative than usual. This beauty was actually almost hamming it up for me, he seemed as curious about me as I was about him.

Monday, January 30, 2012
Nursery Hummer Close Up

A beautiful Anna's Hummingbird at one of my favorite spots, Terra Sol Nursery in Goleta, California. I imagine, living in a nursery for them must be like us living in an all you can eat buffet with all your favorite foods. It seems like a pretty good life, they live in there a lot closer than most hummingbirds because of the abundance of food. And the Nursery's cat is very mellow and never bothers them, but keeps anything else away that might be a predator.

Sunday, November 27, 2011
Hummingbird Sampling Nectar

Last weekend the Hummingbirds were very busy at the local nurseries. This girl (an Anna's Hummingbird) in particular was spending a lot of time at her favorite flowers. She was not particularly excited to have me there at first. But it was easy to see she really loved these flowers, some kind of South African Lily I believe. So all I had to do was get a step closer each time she came by, and she eventually was pretty comfortable with me.

Monday, November 21, 2011
Hummingbird Lunchtime

Don't you hate it when someone comes by to take your picture and you don't have time to straighten that pesky feather sticking out of the back of your head? Well, can't be taking time to look in the mirror when you're burning this much energy all the time.

Sunday, November 20, 2011
Iridescent Hummer

This guy was pretty suspicious of me. There was really no way for me to easily get much closer to him, but he was not taking any chances. He was tilting his head back and forth trying to size me up, which was actually great since it flashed his beautiful feathers every time he moved.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Anna's Hummingbird

The hummingbirds are quite active around here these days. They seem to like to taunt me any time I'm outside without my camera. I have not had time to chase them down, this guy was from a walk at Seaside Gardens. Hopefully I'll get out with my camera to chase the hummers tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Emerald Hummer

This is my friend from the other day. I thought you might enjoy seeing his beautiful green back. Like I said, I have a few more shots to go through so I'm sure you'll see more of him in the coming photos of the day. This was one of his other favorite perches. I really liked the alternating diagonal lines, but he was usually sitting at an area that was behind another bush. I got lucky this one time when he decided to land further out.

One other interesting thing in the comparison of the two shots is the fact that his head and throat plumage is very directional. If you have never seen one of these guys up close, that is not a trick of the camera. The feathers are amazingly iridescent when he looks right at you. So much so that my computer has trouble dealing with the details in them from the hot color of the feathers. But when he looks away, the same feathers look almost black. I love the details in nature! That is why I can happily spend hours on the same subject and still go back for more.

Sunday, September 14, 2008
Seaside Hummer

We spent the afternoon yesterday wandering around the Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria. It is the best place to get hummer photos, there are enough flowers there to support a bunch of them in a much smaller area than they would normally be comfortable with. This guy was one of my favorite subjects. He had about four or five favorite perches. I followed him from one to the next getting a little closer on each circuit. I started taking photos when I was still far away from him so he would get used to the sound of the shutter. After about five or six trips around his space he got comfortable enough for me to get this shot. I have no idea how long it took seemed like only a few minutes, but there were hundreds of images when I was done.

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Hummer in the Mallow

This guy is sitting on a branch in our Sea Tree Mallow. He is waiting for me to fill up the hummingbird feeder. Don't you just hate it when your favorite restaurant makes you wait. It's so hard to get good service. It's a good thing our most popular hummingbird appetizers are blooming right now.

Saturday, March 1, 2008
Iridescent Anna's

It was a bit of a gray day today. But there was still enough sunlight to show off this guy's beautiful plumage.

Saturday, December 22, 2007
Carmel Valley Hummer

Today we took a nice trip to a nursery in Carmel Valley. It's one of my favorite places to chase humming birds. There are always a bunch of them but there is one in particular that seems to like to play. He keeps buzzing me and then sitting and waiting for me to get almost close enough for the shot I want before taking off again. I'm sure he's having as much fun with me as I am with him. Fortunately, he usually takes pity on the big lumbering beast with the 300 millimeter nose and lets me get a few nice shots.

Saturday, September 8, 2007
Fuzzy Contemplation

Like I've said before, the subject is important but the background can really make or break the image. The pink around the hummingbird is from the flowers (or more technically the bracts) of the Bougainvillea he is resting in. I love the contrast with his beautiful feathers.

This is actually an older shot, it was in my first show. The show was a flower theme, but interspersed in the flowers were small shots of hummingbirds. Seemed fitting to me. :-D

Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Hummer in the Bush

It's taken a while but we have built up some nice traffic to our hummingbird feeders in the back yard. Originally I thought our umbrella was blocking their view of potential threats and scaring them away. When we put it down for a while they came closer and started eating at our feeder that is hung the highest. Now that they are more comfortable, the umbrella is back up and they seem to like the seclusion of it. We have two lower feeders that are almost under the umbrella and they are emptied the fastest. I even got scolded today when the lower feeders were empty!

Sunday, August 19, 2007
Nappin' in the Golden Hour

This is my friend from the other day. Like I said he was back in the evening, and the light just kept getting more and more beautiful.

Friday, August 17, 2007
After Dinner Nap

Truth be known it is more of a DURING dinner nap. He was sitting there napping and licking his chops. Then, every so often, he would wake up (almost) then lean over and take a few sips. He let me get very close, but his friend (mom?) was a little excited at one point. I don't think I freaked them out too much though because they came back later in the evening after leaving for a bit to let me clean the feeder and make fresh food. He was watching, because I barely had the feeder back up and he was on it while I was still standing there.

The last time we had a hummer do this he was staking out the back yard to raise a family. I'm not sure it is the right time of year for that, but I'll be watching.

Friday, July 27, 2007
Reflective Hummer

This was at the same nursery as the hummer from the other day. This guy was just being thoughtful in the filtered light. He was watching me intently as I got closer. He did not seem scared. He was more curious I think. He kept tilting his head from side to side. He probably knew the big lumbering beast that was stuck on the ground could never get close enough to bother him.

I love the way the side lighting shows every feather on his face.

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.