Been practicing with the Hummingbirds again. The first one is a female, the other two are of the same male.

Note for Leigh and other shutterbugs: These are heavily cropped (probably 75 percent or more, meaning I cropped out 75 percent of the original frame), since I was about 25 feet away, and resized for posting. Taken under difficult lighting. Very strong midmorning sunlight coming in at about a 10 o'clock angle. Notice the very bright white spot on the female's neck? That's called a blown highlight. It would have been much, much worse, but I deliberately underexposed to protect the highlights, which made the overall photo too dark. Then I lightened the shadows and darkened the highlights in Photoshop. Some additional work with levels and curves was done to bring everything more in balance. Very far from perfect, but I'm still learning.

WOW! We only get hummingbirds on rare occasion. But they never stop like that. Very cool!

When I look at those beaks I wonder how they preen - it must be communal.

Thanks - really enjoyed them - handsome little things.

We're fortunate to have quite a few of them. I know there must be several nesting nearby, but its all woods around, and its like looking for a needle in a haystack!
LOL, I don't know how they preen, but I can assure you it isn't communally! They are the feistiest, most territorial little devils you ever saw. Going into the garden these days is like walking into the middle of an aerial dog-fight! You know how they say that hummingbirds have to eat approx. every 20 minutes because of their metabolism? Its true, they actually go into a form of hibernation at night, or they'd starve to death. Anyway, I think they could probably go 45 minutes to an hour if they didn't expend so much energy trying to drive each other away! The females aren't so bad, but the males are something else. The aerobatics are amazing.

We have lots of hummingbirds here also. I have been dived bombed on so many occasions. Ruby just says "Ohhhhhhhh" or does her rumble noise when they fly by too close. I just loved your photos. I believe they are the prettiest bird photos I have ever seen! It is amazing how I can see each tiny little feather! Thanks!

I was just looking at the detail on the covert major and covert minor. It reminds me of the shoulders on a well trained athlete. I look at birds in a different way now that I live with them. Its amazing.

Great shots of a notoriously difficult subject!!

Looks like the lighting was against you- A bit harsh- But well handled. What kind of lens are you using??

-Andrew

Thanks, Andrew. Took these with an Olympus E-330 body, 50-200 2.8/3.5 Olympus/Zuiko lens @200mm (400mm effective focal length with the 4/3 aspect ratio). Stands up to cropping fairly well.

I think you did a fantastic job Nate.
I have been trying to attract these little buggers for years now.

Jac, I've seen them preen - they do do it by themselves!
They are little buggers too, Nate! Lovely pix, thanks for posting them.