Posts in Category: hummingbird
Stripe-throated Hermit
The Stripe-throated Hermit, like most Hermit Hummingbirds, rarely perches where anyone can see it…or get a photo of it. Even field-guide photos are mostly flight shots. And, unlike the other Hermits, it is small…one of the smaller hummingbirds of Central America, so it is not easy to catch in flight. This is my best shot from 16 days in Costa Rica, taken at Dave and Dave’s Costa Rican Nature Pavilion in La Virgen. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. My custom flight mode modifications of Program. 1/1000th. Processed in Polarr.
White-necked Jacobin
This is a series of shots at 10 frames per second of a White-necked Jacobin Hummingbird, taken at Dave and Dave’s Costa Rican Nature Pavilion in La Vergin, Costa Rica. Dave and Dave, father and son, have a wonderful set up for bird photography around their home, including a hummingbird feeding station that combines just enough feeders (with a low sugar content) to attract the birds, and enough natural nectar sources (with a higher sugar content) to keep them coming back and provide natural perches for photography. Google Photos found this sequence in images in my photo roll, taken with the Sony RX10iv, and animated it to a gif, which I then cropped and edited in ImgPlay, before re-saving it as a high quality gif and as a short video. Note the tongue 🙂 Dave and Dave’s is a must place to visit if you are in the Sarapiqui area of Costa Rica.
Brown Violetear
In going through some pics from early in the ZEISS Birding trip to Costa Rica, I came across this set of unprocessed shots of the Brown Violetear Hummingbird from La Paz Waterfall Gardens on the continental divide north of San Jose. Given the Polarr treatment, and assembled for viewing in ImgPlay, here they are. The Bird Name Gods have renamed the Green Violetear to Lesser Violetear. Can it be long before the Brown Violetear is the Greater Violetear? Not that they are not distinctly Green and Brown as well as Violeteared, but when has that ever mattered? Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr.
Popular Plant, Batsu Gardens, Costa Rica
Whenever I stay at the Savegre Mountain Hotel (it might be the Savegre Mountain Resort now), in San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, I try to arrange an afternoon at Batsu Gardens, high on the mountain-side across the Savegre River and overlooking the hotel grounds. One of the younger members of the founding pioneers’ family has established a garden with viewing shelters and feeders where you can sit and watch and photograph many species of mountain hummingbirds, tanagers, and the occasional Emerald Toucanet to your hearts content…all while sipping the supplied coffee. There is a restroom provided. All mod cons, and hummingbirds to boot! There are flowering and fruiting plants all around the viewing platform, so it is often possible to capture the hummingbirds away from the feeders, in a more natural setting. This plant attracted both the White-throated Mountain Gem (formerly the Grey-tailed Mountain Gem) and the Lesser Violet-ear (formerly the Green Violet-ear). Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. My birds and wildlife modifications to Program Mode. Processed in Polarr.
Talamanca Hummingbird
The Magnificent Hummingbird was split a few years ago into two species. The Rivoli’s Hummingbird from the north portion of its range, including Southeast Arizona in the US, and the Talamanca Hummingbird from the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. We spent the last days of both the ZEISS Birding trip and my Point and Shoot Nature Photography adventure in the Talamanca Mountains at Savegre Mountain Hotel in San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica where, of course, the Talamanca Hummingbird is common. This shot was taken at Miriam’s Quetzals, a small restaurant overlooking an Avocado tree where Resplendent Quetzals come in fruiting season. Miriam has built a small business out of the tree, serving coffee and hot chocolate and the occasional meal to birders who stop to see the Quetzals, and the other mountain birds that come to her feeders off the back deck of the restaurant. Miriam’s is a “required” stop for any birder on his or her way in to San Gerardo de Dota. Whatever they call this bird, it is still a magnificent hummingbird! Sony RX10iv at 600mm. My custom modifications of Program for birds and wildlife. Processed in Polarr. And, once more, you can join me on another Point and Shoot adventure in Costa Rica next December. Contact me.
Green Hermit, Costa Rica
I am back from 15 days in Costa Rica. I will, maybe, do a make up post in the next few days with some of the images I posted to Facebook and Instagram while on the trip. This is the Green Hermit, caught in the act at a little Soda (mom and pop restaurant) just over the continental divide in the Central Volcanic Range on the way from San Jose to Selva Verde Lodge. For $2.00 you get a cup of coffee, a slice of cheese quesadilla, and the privilege of watching birds coming into their feeders from the deck overlooking the San Francisco waterfall. Such a deal! Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr.
Anna’s Hummingbird
Anna’s Hummingbird. Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast, Sierra Vista AZ
On our last day in Arizona, Sally and I visited the Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast south of Sierra Vista. Though it is a modest establishment it has a world class reputation among birders. It is one of the best places for both Spot-breasted Oriole and Lucifer’s Hummingbird. This, however, is a incredibly cooperative Anna’s Hummingbird. It came and sat above us, and allowed me to approach within 4 feet. Not so long ago, there were no Anna’s Hummingbirds in Arizona. They have expanded their range steadily eastward from Southern California over the past decade.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 220 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Broad-billed Hummingbird the wrong way around. Happy Sunday!
Broad-billed Hummingbird, Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon, Arizona
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!”
We visited Madera Canyon this morning, in search, mainly, of Elegant Trogons (which we did not find), but of course we had to stop by the Santa Rita Lodge and their Hummingbird feeders to see what was going on. All the usual subjects for a mountain August in Arizona, but nothing particularly unexpected. On the other hand, I could watch Broad-billed Hummingbirds all say. This is a somewhat unique shot. Many might call it a butt shot and disparage it as such, but I like it! I love the bow of the tail and the position of the wings, as well as the grace of the pose…and the colors…what can I say? I like it.
And of course that is part of the Generous Eye. You and I probably do not see the world, or even this image, the same way. And that is okay. More than okay. That is great. The Generous Eye is generous enough to allow you to see differently than I do, and generous enough (speaking personally, most of the time) to appreciate your point of view and value it equally with mine. It takes all our eyes to embrace the vision of the loving creator God. Happy Sunday.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
Ruby-throat
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Kennebunk ME
Another shot from the back deck feeding station. Our only hummingbird. A Ruby-throated female that is regular at our feeder. She seems to be the only one in the neighborhood.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 640. Processed in Lightroom.
Hummer on the deck
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the yard, Kennebunk Maine
After I got back from Honduras early this month, I went out and bought a hummingbird feeder, as a kind of antidote to hummingbird withdrawal. We have a few Ruby-throated Hummingbirds coming now, but this the first one who is making him/herself at home. It is most likely an immature female. It allowed me to work my way to about 6 feet from it, and then only took off because it was ready to go. Not the best light as the sun was behind a cloud, but still… There is a poem.
We have, maybe, a “resident” hummingbird
coming to our feeder, and resting on the
apple branches we bolted to the deck for
perches round the feeding station. It might
be a young bird…it has that look about it,
and it let me within six feet today…buzzing
up into the trees overhead not because I was
there, but just because it was ready to go.
It was back again a dozen times in the next
few hours, always perching near the top of
the apple branch, spending sixty seconds
at a time at the feeder, sipping up the red
nectar. Of course I have photos, which I
will share tomorrow. I feel privileged to
play host to such a special creature…Ruby-
throated, though its chin is yet bare…still
I could get lost in the iridescent beauty of
of its green back, in the intricate detail
of its breast and wing feathers. Lost, I say,
or found in beauty. What a way to go!
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 250. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom.