NDR The Black-chinned hummers are back!

[Al Hansen]

Seems like just after early teal season is over and before the nights start getting too cold, all the hummers leave for Mexico. Then duck season starts and so much is going on that time seems to fly. I always look forward to the beginning of April when the little tykes come back.

I had about a half hour window to take my pics this morning before my wife woke up. The sun was just getting into that position where the light is good and you hope for the best. I must apologize for the lack of a good background. I have a better chance of that happening during the evening time when it is setting. Then I can be shooting with the apple tree in the background which beats the heck out of the side of our home.

There were about a half dozen of these little guys hovering around the feeder and I tried to make the best of it.

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Moon shot!

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Maybe once in several hundreds of shots will you get lucky enough to catch the light shining on the gorget. One of the ways to get a female's attention when courting.

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I began looking at this male and couldn't quite put my finger on why it was different.

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I thought this male might have a missing tail feather.

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Then I finally saw shaft and the pure white feather. Very unusual for this to happen.

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It is amazing how quickly light can change. These last three shots reminded me of that beautiful drake mallard "sarge"captured recently. Same thing happened here.
By the way, I was shooting at 1/3200ths of a second, ISO 400 at f4.5
Al

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[Jeff Smith]

Beautiful shots Al. I just saw my first ruby-throat a few days ago, a male. I haven't put the feeders out yet but the Virginia Creeper is in full bloom.

 

[Richard Bell]

I enjoyed the pictures ... always enjoy the pictures. Saw my first Ruby-Throated today in Chapel Hill, NC ... put the first feeder out. Thanks, R.Bell

 

[Doug Bowman]

Love your picks Al!

Can we have some more? Please.

 

[Phil Walters]

Great pics Al, we had a few arrive last week feeders are out waiting. Just finished watching a Nat Geo special on hummingbirds.Talk about a bird living on the edge, seems like they might be in trouble if you had a unexpected cold front. Thanks again. Phil

 

[Al Hansen]

Beautiful shots Al. I just saw muy first ruby-throat a few days ago, a male. I haven't put the feeders out yet but the Virginia Creeper is in full bloom.

Thanks for those comments, Jeff. It sure has been quite a while since I saw my last ruby-throated hummer. Glad you have the flowers growing.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

I enjoyed the pictures ... always enjoy the pictures. Saw my first Ruby-Throated today in Chapel Hill, NC ... put the first feeder out. Thanks, R.Bell

Good to hear from you, Richard. Those little tykes you have in your neck of the woods have already made a long journey especially when you think of them having to fly across the Gulf. I have read where some stay in the southern most areas of Florida but most are either in the West Indies, Mexico, Central America and some down to South America. Enjoy their stay.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

Love your picks Al!

Can we have some more? Please.

Hey Doug,
Glad you liked those pictures. Last night while preparing dinner I saw quite a few at the feeder. I decided to put out two when I began to notice how territorial one male hummer was on the first feeder. That solved the problem. Didn't have time for pics then but will find the time some day soon.
Hope those pups are doing just fine. Will look forward to seeing more pictures of them----Hint---Hint.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

Great pics Al, we had a few arrive last week feeders are out waiting. Just finished watching a Nat Geo special on hummingbirds.Talk about a bird living on the edge, seems like they might be in trouble if you had a unexpected cold front. Thanks again. Phil

You are welcome, Phil. I have seen that Nat Geo film and loved it. It seems that a lot of the hummers live on the edge. What you said made me think of those hummers who live in this area of the southwestern desert. It also reminded me of the time I was standing on top of the Magdalena Mountain range, Mount Baldy, at 10,783 feet, and had a broadtail male hovering above my head checking me out. There are many nights where the temps fall exceedingly low even in the summer at that altitude, however they still seem to pull through just fine. I believe that they go into "torpor" quite a bit.
Al

 

[Tom L]

we had the first one of the year here in NJ saturday.

hope they hang around all summer, neat birds

 

[Mark Spolarich]

As always Al your pictures of hummingbirds just leave me in awe.......You have capturing them on 'film' down to an art form...

 

[Al Hansen]

we had the first one of the year here in NJ saturday.

hope they hang around all summer, neat birds

I do too. Do you have flowers in the area that they like or do you have a feeder in place? Good luck, Tom.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

As always Al your pictures of hummingbirds just leave me in awe.......You have capturing them on 'film' down to an art form...

Thanks very much, Mark. I look forward to the hummers being here almost as much as I anticipate next year's duck season. I find hummers extremely interesting. As the spring flows into summer, my main emphasis will be to get them used to me being around. Like standing maybe two feet from the feeder while they are eating. That makes taking pictures more exciting!
Al

 

[Tom L]

we had the first one of the year here in NJ saturday.

hope they hang around all summer, neat birds

I do too. Do you have flowers in the area that they like or do you have a feeder in place? Good luck, Tom.
Al

feeders have been out for a couple of weeks now awaiting their return

 

[greg setter]

As you know Al, I always especially look forward to the hummingbird pictures. There was a program on Natgeo last night about South Amercian hummers, but I only caught the tail end. But I can tell you that their photog's have nothing on you. As a matter of fact, if they were smart, they would buy your pictures! Good stuff and thanks for sharing.

 

[Al Hansen]

As you know Al, I always especially look forward to the hummingbird pictures. There was a program on Natgeo last night about South Amercian hummers, but I only caught the tail end. But I can tell you that their photog's have nothing on you. As a matter of fact, if they were smart, they would buy your pictures! Good stuff and thanks for sharing.

Thank you for what you had to say, Greg. I did appreciate that. I guess I could say "if only I had a 600mm L IS lens" but I have to admit that I am happy that I have a 70-200mm L lens. I'll continue to spend more time outside trying to get the hummers used to seeing me around so that I can get closer to them. It does take a while, however.

Last evening I sat in my duck hunting chair for about 20 minutes. This is what it looks like to the east from our back yard just before the sun sets.

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During the day I happened to notice a male Bullock's oriole looking around. They always come back to this area from Mexico around the end of April. Well, I went and got our hanging basket and then put a small dish of grape jam in it. They love the stuff. These guys are extremely spooky however last evening a male house finch came over to feed.

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This is an adult black-chinned female.

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An adult black-chinned male.
Al

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[Dave Blink]

As always, great pictures. What struck me as I was viewing them was what you would have had to go through to take pictures like that with the equipment that amateur photographers had available to them 40+ years ago when I first became interested in photography. My son's phone can take better pictures today than the Nikon or Canon cameras that I had back then.

 

[tgentry]

Man, Al. Your hummer pics always take my breath away. Wait, I should rephrase that. Good job!!

Trip.

 

[TimJ]

Nice photos. Those are cool looking hummers.
Our Ruby-throats and Orioles should be showing up at about any time now. I hope they hold off for a few more days because (drum roll please) more snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. It has been in the 70s and 80s the past few days so it isn't going to stick around. Saw my first Martin of the spring over in my neighbors back yard this evening. Hope he has a little fat reserve for the rest of this week.

Tim

 

[Al Hansen]

As always, great pictures. What struck me as I was viewing them was what you would have had to go through to take pictures like that with the equipment that amateur photographers had available to them 40+ years ago when I first became interested in photography. My son's phone can take better pictures today than the Nikon or Canon cameras that I had back then.

Dave, I can still remember the Christmas of 1952, when my mother gave dad an Argus C3. He was elated! I have to agree with you. Technology is something special and it is fun to be able to join in on the ride---that is as long as I know what and how to do it! I sure wish my father was alive to have been able to experience this digital era we are now in. He would have loved it. It is spectacular.
Al