Ruby-throated Hummingbird: York County, Maine, USA, August 2024 — Until this year I would have said that encountering Ruby-throated Hummingbirds away from any feeder, in the wild, was very rare. This summer I have had half a dozen encounters, and gotten photos in two of them. The problem with wild sightings is that, without a feeder to keep them close and coming back, you only have seconds to react…to get the camera up and get off a burst or two of shots before the hummingbird is off to find fresh flowers. And of course, around a feeder you are “primed” for hummers…ready both physically and psychologically to capture the action. Just out on a stroll, seeing what you can see, it is much more difficult to snap to focus and snap the photos. And, of course, it is a testament to how well bird recognition, eye-tracking auto focus works that any of these chance encounters result in focused images. 🙂 Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC VXD zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife and action and flight modifications. (I switched between the two shots…so these are shots from two different bursts…on is at 1/500th and one is at 1/2000th. Can you tell which is which?) Processed in Photomator.