New season, hummingbirds back

[ctfjr]

I finally got around to hanging my hummingbird feeder. Within two hours they found it. Funny how we never see them unless the feeder is up.

We don't have the really colorful ones found in other areas. This guy is typical but we do get a Ruby Red occasionally - much more photogenic.

Hummer

 

[skeets]

Cool my hummers came back some time ago hit the feeder really hard and then nothing, havent seen one since.

 

[Biker1mike]

My feeder sees only one or two a day.
I think the residing Red Tailed Hawk has a lot to do with it.

 

[Tropical Jack]

Our hummers are just now coming back. According to my birder friends, they just finished their nesting season when they had to feed their young with insects. That is apparently why they don’t feed from the feeders for a while.

Jack

 

[PoTreeBoy]

I finally got around to hanging my hummingbird feeder. Within two hours they found it. Funny how we never see them unless the feeder is up.

We don't have the really colorful ones found in other areas. This guy is typical but we do get a Ruby Red occasionally - much more photogenic.

Hummer

Isn't that a female Ruby Throated?

I heard an unusual bird yesterday, sounded like tet-ra-he-dron. Wish I had my phone so I could record it.

 

[RCW]

Isn't that a female Ruby Throated?

I heard an unusual bird yesterday, sounded like tet-ra-he-dron. Wish I had my phone so I could record it.

I think so. In my part of NYS, I think we only have Ruby Throated HB's.

I'll just mention I had a great view of an adult Bobcat yesterday. Crossed road ahead, and saw it go about 100 yards across a large lawn.

Large and stout, maybe male. Impressive.

Look back ahead, a large buck in velvet is sticking his head out to cross, too...Thankfully he changed his mind.

Otherwise he might have been a hood ornament.....

 

[mcfarmall]

Hummingbirds arrived in mid April this year. Saw one checking out the red tips on the windmill sails. Mixed up a batch of nectar, put it out and it was dining about 10 minutes later.

 

[jkrubi12]

Avid bird watcher here, western MA....Hummingbirds arrive mid-May every year, I use Droll Yankees hummingbird feeders, best design I've seen (my third feeder style).

I use table sugar and water (not too strong!) and they LOVE it.......Usually a male will 'claim' the feeder as his own and stand guard protecting the food source. These birds are unbelievably aggressive when it comes to feeding; I've witnessed numerous 'battles' at the feeder with all kinds of chatter. I've even found a dead bird on the ground below the feeder (once).

Be sure to clean the feeders regularly, they get funky inside.

Occasionally, I've witnessed the 'mating dance' that males put on to impress the females. It's similar to the 'threat' dance they perform to scare away potential food grabbers.

The enjoyment from watching these amazing birds is endless.

 

[mcfarmall]

I use a 4:1 ratio of water to plain white sugar, as I learned on the internet. Witnessed some squabbles and chatter. I have 3 feeders about 25 feet apart from each other.

 

[ctfjr]

And the Ruby Red made himself known this morning

Red Hummingbird

 

[Benhameen]

We've had our feeders out for at least a month and hadn’t seen much until this week. Last week we changed out the sugar water for fresh and they started showing up, not sure if that made a difference or not but they’re back.
There’s a really cool documentary about hummingbirds, Netflix maybe?

 

[jkrubi12]

@mcfarmall, if I had taken a pic like I would post it too! GREAT SHOT!

 

[rc51stierhoff]

They seem to be hungry this morning…the GSD is right under them. Not enough time to get the whole family in the pic though. They seem more spooked by me than the dog.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Now you can see the ears…

 

[RBsingl]

For some reason I have never had much luck with my hummingbird feeder and I have tried both commercial and homebrew mixes. Several years ago I had a glass of rum punch sitting on the gazebo and I found two hummingbirds trying to get to it but I am definitely not putting alcoholic beverages in my hummingbird feeder.

They do love the gladiolas my daughter and I planted on my recently deceased German Shepherd's grave site

I photographed this one a couple of days ago when I was testing a Sigma 150-600 zoom lens as an alternative to my heavy Canon primes for some fall hiking I have planned. The fairly light and relatively low cost Sigma zoom doesn't have the build and optical quality of my fast Canon prime telephotos but it will be good enough for hiking. This image was shot with the lens at its full 600mm length and heavily cropped from about 40% of the Canon 1DX Mark III's sensor area with heavy overcast forcing the ISO to 10,000 but it still retained pretty good detail.

The higher ISO in low light is the cost of using a f6.3 lens instead of the f2.8 or f4 Canon primes but the lesser weight and zoom versatility is a good tradeoff for mountain hiking!

Rodger

 

[rc51stierhoff]

I am not really sure why, but we manage to have many each year…they seem to frequent a Japanese maple and a white pine…the feeder is about halfway between them and they seem to river back and forth on a cadence. In todays case I am having a cigar for breakfast…that seems not to bother them either. They have showed no interest in my coffee.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

For some reason I have never had much luck with my hummingbird feeder and I have tried both commercial and homebrew mixes. Several years ago I had a glass of rum punch sitting on the gazebo and I found two hummingbirds trying to get to it but I am definitely not putting alcoholic beverages in my hummingbird feeder.

They do love the gladiolas my daughter and I planted on my recently deceased German Shepherd's grave site

I photographed this one a couple of days ago when I was testing a Sigma 150-600 zoom lens as an alternative to my heavy Canon primes for some fall hiking I have planned. The fairly light and relatively low cost Sigma zoom doesn't have the build and optical quality of my fast Canon prime telephotos but it will be good enough for hiking. This image was shot with the lens at its full 600mm length and heavily cropped from about 40% of the Canon 1DX Mark III's sensor area with heavy overcast forcing the ISO to 10,000 but it still retained pretty good detail.

The higher ISO in low light is the cost of using a f6.3 lens instead of the f2.8 or f4 Canon primes but the lesser weight and zoom versatility is a good tradeoff for mountain hiking!

Rodger

View attachment 83634

Excellent work, again! Are these pictures you've posted hand-held?

I'm no photographer, but I know one Southern Focus. Joe Mac was a classmate, just another redneck/hillbilly with a gun, graduated to the camera and fame.

 

[RBsingl]

Excellent work, again! Are these pictures you've posted hand-held?

I'm no photographer, but I know one Southern Focus. Joe Mac was a classmate, just another redneck/hillbilly with a gun, graduated to the camera and fame.

Thank you!

They are handheld and the shutter speed was fast enough that I turned the optical stabilizer off.

I have seen Joe Mac's work before and it is impressive!

For me it is purely a hobby and I shoot high school sports as a volunteer for something to do in retirement. I got started with some very poorly done sports photography while I was simultaneously coaching my daughter as a 5 year old in youth soccer and it remains a lot of fun. I am counting the days until I will be on the sidelines for fall football and the other fall and spring sports!

The second photo on the basketball court was fun because it wasn't staged. I was watching his progress through the viewfinder and realized that he was crossing perfectly in front of the school logo located on the padding beyond the goal and I grabbed the shot.

Timing is everything which is what makes sports (and wildlife) photography a fun challenge.

Rodger

 

[Tughill Tom]

For some reason I have never had much luck with my hummingbird feeder and I have tried both commercial and homebrew mixes. Several years ago I had a glass of rum punch sitting on the gazebo and I found two hummingbirds trying to get to it but I am definitely not putting alcoholic beverages in my hummingbird feeder.

They do love the gladiolas my daughter and I planted on my recently deceased German Shepherd's grave site

I photographed this one a couple of days ago when I was testing a Sigma 150-600 zoom lens as an alternative to my heavy Canon primes for some fall hiking I have planned. The fairly light and relatively low cost Sigma zoom doesn't have the build and optical quality of my fast Canon prime telephotos but it will be good enough for hiking. This image was shot with the lens at its full 600mm length and heavily cropped from about 40% of the Canon 1DX Mark III's sensor area with heavy overcast forcing the ISO to 10,000 but it still retained pretty good detail.

The higher ISO in low light is the cost of using a f6.3 lens instead of the f2.8 or f4 Canon primes but the lesser weight and zoom versatility is a good tradeoff for mountain hiking!

Rodger

View attachment 83634

Nice shot for sure!

 

[RBsingl]

Nice shot for sure!

Thanks!