Annas Hummingbird

[Eric]

It's that time of year again and they're all over the feeders. The color of the fence in the background is red and not very dramatic when it comes to these shots, so what I've done is taken an existing photo of some greenery, added a bunch of gaussian blur in PS and then printed it on a 16x24 card stock, then I pin it up behind the feeder area for a backdrop.

 

[mollyc]

i don’t get many hummingbirds here even if i put out nectar.

 

[Apple fanboy]

It's that time of year again and they're all over the feeders. The color of the fence in the background is red and not very dramatic when it comes to these shots, so what I've done is taken an existing photo of some greenery, added a bunch of gaussian blur in PS and then printed it on a 16x24 card stock, then I pin it up behind the feeder area for a backdrop.

View attachment 12877

That’s fantastic. I wish we got hummingbirds in the U.K.

 

[Cmaier]

That’s fantastic. I wish we got hummingbirds in the U.K.

I never saw one in person until i moved to california, and now i see them every day in the lilacs outside my window.

They are freakishly unnatural and should be avoided at all costs lest their needle-like beaks suck out your soul.

 

[Eric]

I never saw one in person until i moved to california, and now i see them every day in the lilacs outside my window.

They are freakishly unnatural and should be avoided at all costs lest their needle-like beaks suck out your soul.

We laugh but it's not far from the truth. When we change their feeders they dive bomb us kamikaze like, buzzing us and all.

 

[Cmaier]

We laugh but it's not far from the truth. When we change their feeders they dive bomb us kamikaze like, buzzing us and all.

the two things that freaked me out when i came out here: hummingbirds, and spiders that look like spiders. (where i come from all we have are daddy longlegs).

Oh, also, butter has the wrong dimensions here. And I guess “Hellman’s” sounds too ethnic or something for Californians, so here we have “Best Foods.” So that’s four things.

 

[Edd]

the two things that freaked me out when i came out here: hummingbirds, and spiders that look like spiders. (where i come from all we have are daddy longlegs).

Oh, also, butter has the wrong dimensions here. And I guess “Hellman’s” sounds too ethnic or something for Californians, so here we have “Best Foods.” So that’s four things.

I’ve lived both east and west coasts quite a bit, and something I never hear discussed are differences between breakfast potatoes at restaurants.

In the west, it was always shredded potatoes. I’d never seen that until I moved to California and that’s all I saw from San Diego to Seattle. In the east it’s more like chunks of potatoes.

I should point out my west years are between 1990 and 2001.

Thanks for inspiring me to bring up this Very Important Topic.

 

[Yoused]

We have Annas all winter long. They are hitting the feeders when the ground is covered with snow. Hardy little bastards.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I never saw one in person until i moved to california, and now i see them every day in the lilacs outside my window.

They are freakishly unnatural and should be avoided at all costs lest their needle-like beaks suck out your soul.

I sold my soul to fund my Apple addiction many years ago!

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Took this a little while ago. It’s crazy how still and unafraid they are considering what they are like as adults.

 

[Eric]

View attachment 13089

Took this a little while ago. It’s crazy how still and unafraid they are considering what they are like as adults.

Doesn't look like they have a lot of choice there lol. They're basically in feed me mode.

 

[Eric]

While we're still on the subject, I've gotten a lot of practice with these over the last couple of years.

 

[Apple fanboy]

While we're still on the subject, I've gotten a lot of practice with these over the last couple of years.

View attachment 13094

Beautiful. I’d crop out the stick on the right and print it.

 

[Eric]

Beautiful. I’d crop out the stick on the right and print it.

Not really one I would print but it made me think of the book Magnum Contact Sheets, have you had a chance to read it? It goes into the selection process for printing, which most of the times was the publisher making the decisions as opposed to the photographer. Of course in those days they had access to the entire contents of all the rolls of film but rarely did the photographer agree with what the publisher did.

I often get comments about lights, poles, stop signs, wires, etc in my shots (stuff like "if it weren't for that it would be awesome") but it's rare that I ever mess with it because I see it as part of the scene and let it stand on its own. There are also photographers who go to great lengths to remove or crop that stuff and there's nothing wrong with that, just not my style.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Not really one I would print but it made me think of the book Magnum Contact Sheets, have you had a chance to read it? It goes into the selection process for printing, which most of the times was the publisher making the decisions as opposed to the photographer. Of course in those days they had access to the entire contents of all the rolls of film but rarely did the photographer agree with what the publisher did.

I often get comments about lights, poles, stop signs, wires, etc in my shots (stuff like "if it weren't for that it would be awesome") but it's rare that I ever mess with it because I see it as part of the scene and let it stand on its own. There are also photographers who go to great lengths to remove or crop that stuff and there's nothing wrong with that, just not my style.

I’ve not read it but will look it up.
I’m always one who looks for the details in a photo I’d want to crop out etc when I take the shot. Thomas Heaton refers to it as edge patrol. But that’s landscape photography. Wildlife is different. You don’t usually have the time.

 

[Eric]

They get really colorful during the fall spring, this was during a recent rain.

 

[mollyc]

i've never seen a hummingbird like that. ours are kind of boring brown. i think i'm going to get a new feeder to see if i have better luck attracting some this year.

 

[Eric]

i've never seen a hummingbird like that. ours are kind of boring brown. i think i'm going to get a new feeder to see if i have better luck attracting some this year.

They're stunning when their feathers come out, for the most part they look dark black until they face you directly and they you can catch it in the light. The colors come out a bit more certain times of year as well.

 

[mollyc]

We apparently have ruby-throated. If I could get more than one a year hear maybe I could see the colors better.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

www.hummingbirdcentral.com

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Yesterday one of the babies was gone and the other fell out of the nest. I was able to pick them up and put them back in the nest.

This morning they’re both in the nest and doing fine.