The abundantly wet winter and spring northern Arizona experienced paid off in July when, despite an absence of monsoon moisture, wildflowers still blossomed in the fields along Lake Mary Road. Penstemons are a favorite of the local hummingbirds and I enjoyed several weekend outings devoted to sitting near a patch of flowers waiting for Anna's hummingbirds to stop by on their nectar runs. This one's a female.
Aug. 15, 2023
6
-
-
What a perfect capture! That is beautiful. It reminds me of a Japanese painting.
Bob -
Excellent capture! I love the composition, the shape of the bird and the colors, and can only imagine how much experience it takes to capture something as fast as a hummingbird.
Perhaps I'm also used too much to my old manual focus lenses, which are even too slow to capture my kids most of the time... đ
-
Thank you, Bob.
-
What's nice about hummingbirds, is that they're pretty tolerant of people being around. I think it comes from not being hunted and from being around people in urban and suburban gardens. Whatever the reason, they're comfortable around us so it was pretty much a given that they'd show up to harvest nectar from these plants. I sat in a chair, waited, an made photos when one would show up. Yup, they're quick little buggers but I only need a few keepers to feel good about a morning outing making 500 shots đ
Back in my film photography days, I was an active amateur astronomer. I'd pull an all-nighter on a Saturday out observing and maybe making a couple of photos. The next day, I'd do a family outing. I had to change out the film for something compatible with daylight. And I was never quick enough with manual focus to get good photos of my son running around. I don't miss those days đ
-
A fellow bird enthusiast on another forum was kind enough to reach out to me to say he believes this to be a broad-tailed hummingbird. I posted the photo on the "Birding: Arizona and the Southwest" Facebook group and the early consensus is that it is a broad-tailed, not an Anna's.
-
The Merlin Bird ID app also says it is a broad-tailed hummingbird.
