Posts in Category: hummingbird
Purple-throated Mountain Gem
We are still at the feeders at La Paz Waterfall Gardens, on our first day of the Point and Shoot Nature Photography Adventure in Costa Rica…and still at the upper feeders right outside the entrance at that! The Purple-throated Mountain Gem is a gem of a hummingbird…richly colored and active, with a lot of attitude. It posed nicely for us and kept us entertained with its coming and goings for as long as we could spend there. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Anti-motion Blur mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Black-bellied Hummingbird
In addition to unusually high numbers of Green-thorntails, noted before, there appeared to more Black-bellied Hummingbirds than I can remember seeing at La Paz Waterfall Gardens. The Black-bellied Hummingbird has a lot of attitude for a small hummer, and it is hard to miss them when they are around. The squared off crown seems to be characteristic of their display behavior. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Coppery-headed Emerald
There are a few feeders right inside the entrance of the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, right opposite the rest rooms, so while some of us are otherwise engaged, the rest are easily entertained. In fact, I warned my Point and Shoot Nature Photography group that it is easy to get so wrapped up in the hummers just inside the entrance that we might find it difficult to get to the real birding on the levels below. And, sure enough, this Coppery-headed Emerald was there to great us, and, along with the many other species using the feeders, keep us way too long. The Coppery-headed Emerald is one of only 6 endemic species in Costa Rica, and the only one with a wide enough distribution to be easily seen. (There are also, of course, 48 near endemics, shared only, mostly, with a narrow strip of northern Panama.) One of the reasons it is hard to break away form the upper feeders at La Paz is that there are lots of natural perches around them, and natural looking shots like this one are possible as the birds return repeatedly to the same perches. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Anti-motion Blur mode. (The feeders are in the deep shade of the entrance building itself.) Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Green Thorntail Hummingbird
I did not get home from Costa Rica until 4 AM this morning, thanks to weather delays in Newark, but that gave me lots of time to continue to work with my images from the Point and Shoot Nature Photography Adventure in Costa Rica. 🙂 This is the Green Thorntail hummingbird from La Paz Waterfall Gardens just over the continental divide on the way from San Jose to Selva Verde Lodge in the lowland forest. Most years I have to wait a while to see one, but this was among the first hummers I encountered at La Paz and there were numerous individuals present. Nice surprise. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Anti-motion Blur Mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Lesser Violetear at Batsu Gardens
Batsu Gardens sit on the side of the mountain about 500 feet above the Savegre River and Savegre Mountain Hotel and Resort. I always schedule a visit to the gardens for the hummingbirds and other mountain specialties that come the well designed feeding stations and the abundant bird magnet plants. This the male Lesser Violetear Hummingbird, which Edwin, our guide, tells me expends up to 60% of its energy in competitive displays with other males. You can clearly see where the “violetear” part of name comes from. The ears lay flat against the head when it is not displaying. it used to be called the “green violetear”. I have no idea why they changed the name. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Hummingbirds in the rain. Costa Rica
We spent the morning at Dave & Dave’s Costa Rican Nature Pavilion photographing a wide range of birds in the rain…including hummingbirds. This is a Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, the only red-footed hummingbird in Costa Rica. Dave & Dave (father and son) no longer use artificial hummingbird feeders. They put out fresh flowers each day which attract the hummers without distracting them from natural food sources. Challenging photography. Natural light. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent (full frame). Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
I went to Edinburg Wetlands World Birding Center in Edinburg Texas to look for kingfishers…some days you can see all three US kingfishers there: Ringed, Belted, and Green. Not yesterday. I had glimpses of Ringed and Belted but came away with no kingfisher photos. So it goes. The consolation prize, of which there were, of course, many, was this nice Buff-bellied Hummingbird posing at close range. Sony Rx10iv at 1200mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Sparkling Violetear posturing
The Sparkling Violetears at the Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge gardens, on the Manu Road in the Andes of southern Peru, were attempting to dominate the feeders. They zoomed in from their observation posts whenever another hummingbird dared to approach any feeder. On occasion, they even faced off with each other over the ownership. This shot and the video complication below are examples of that. The other Sparkling Violetear is out of the shot, obviously, up and to the right. The video contains shots of the same bird on two different perches, but in conflict with the same opponent. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr. Video compiled in ImgPlay.
Wire-crested Thorntail Hummingbird
As with yesterday’s White-bellied Woodstar, the Wire-crested Thorntail did not show up until after the cloud forest clouds had begun to drift across the garden at Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, late in the afternoon, on the Manu Road in the Andes of southern Peru. And I only saw it that once. We were told it favored the flowers at one end of the deck, but that patch was being guarded by a particularly aggressive Sparkling Violetear. The Thorntail apparently had to wait until the Violetear was off chasing another intruder, well away from the flowers, to risk coming in. Of course it could have come in several other times when I was not looking, but I did keep my eye out for it most of the afternoon. This was a case of turn and shoot, and I got a burst of maybe ten shots off before the hummer disappeared back into the brush and trees around the garden. These are the best. Sony RX10iv at 1200mm equivalent (2x Clear Image Zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
White-bellied Woodstar
As the afternoon progressed at Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, along the Manu Road in the Andes of southern Peru, the mist came in. It is the cloud forest, and that afternoon it lived up to its name. That meant that I was shooting through a haze by the time the White-bellied Woodstar showed up. That and the natural fall-off the light limited the photographic possibilities. Still, for the record, here are at least two individuals of White-bellied Woodstar. These diminutive hummingbirds took no guff from the larger hummers at the feeders…often contesting perches with the Violet-fronted Brilliants three times their size. They relied on their speed and maneuverability to swoop in and raid even well-guarded feeders at will. Sony RX10iv at 1200mm equivalent (2X Clear Image Zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.
