Crowned Woodnymph, Lodge at Pico Bonito and Rio Santiago, Honduras

This is my second hummingbird collage in a row. Yesterday I featured the White-necked Jacobin. Today we have four shots of the Crowned Woodnymph, until recently called the Violet Crowned Woodnymph. The White-necked Jocobin and the Crowned Woodnymph were the most numerous hummingbirds at the feeders both at the Lodge at Pico Bonito and the Rio Santiago Lodge in Honduras. The first shot here is from Pico Bonito…the others are from Rio Santiago. And, as I mentioned yesterday, all were taken in the subdued light of a cloudy afternoon. The shots at Rio Santiago were taken the the shadow of impending rain.

The hummingbirds of Central America are enough to make we want to visit again and again. Sony HX400V. The light levels were low, but there was enough light for ISO 320-1250, with shutter speed pegged at 1/125…which is about as slow as I would dare to go with a hummingbird, especially hand held at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Phototastic on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.

It is interesting that the White-necked Jacobin collage from yesterday went somewhat viral on Google+…and, in fact, it is still getting 10 new +s an hour, and garnering views 24 hours after posting. As of a moment ago it was at 1734 +s, 301 comments (plus about 30 removed as spam), 132 shares, and 802,000 views. I was totally amazed when it went over 500,000 views, half a million, but now a million views is in sight. It is slowing, and probably will not make 1 million, but still…that is a awesome number of views for me. Humbling, and, honestly, a little scary. What kind of world do we live in when I…in all honesty, just a guy from Kennebunk Maine…can post a picture which is seen by 800,000 people in a single day, when over 1700 of them take the time to hit the + button, and over 300 are moved to comment? To keep things in perspective I have to remember that cute kittens get a million or more views on a regular basis…but still…if someone had told me, even last year, that a photo of mine would have that kind of audience I would have laughed right out loud. I mean, really?

Still, I value every view…every + and every comment. I am humbly thankful. And I have to believe that may of those who viewed the collage saw what I saw in it…the simply fantastic beauty of our natural world…and that a good percentage of them saw behind the beauty to the source…to the artist…to the creator of all beauty…who beyond creation gave us the gift of appreciation…the eye to see the beauty, and the heart to feel the wonder…the spirit to enjoy. Thank you God. Happy Sunday!