Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Hummingbirds -

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Archilochus colubris


Our resident pair were busy this morning.


This summer I hung a new feeder on the front porch for the visiting
 hummingbirds - thankfully no ants have found it. I use only sugar and water 
now, a clean batch every few days during the heat, none of that red tinted
 commercial stuff.
In summertime we always have a visiting pair, the red-throated one being the 
handsome male - of course they're both beautiful!
They're the most difficult birds to photograph due to their speed, but every now
and then I just manage to catch a few shots through the dining room window - 
after standing there for what seems eternity, camera at the ready, usually 
early morning or late afternoon.



Hundreds of kinds of hummingbirds nest in the American tropics, and more
 than a dozen in the western U.S., but east of the Great Plains there is only 
the Ruby-throat. Here in the southeast it is fairly common in summer in
 open woods and gardens. Hovering in front of a flower, or a feeder, to sip
 nectar, it beats its wings more than 50 times per second. Impressive migrants
 despite their small size, some Ruby-throats may travel from Canada to Costa Rica.
I love to see these tiny, busy birds in my garden.

10 comments:

  1. Hi Mary, your humming bird is very similar to our sunbirds. Great photos. Thanks for visiting my blog. Yes, I like to emphasize the health aspect of losing weight. And looking good is an added bonus. Have a great day. Jo

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  2. As you know, here in Central Europe we have no native humming birds, so yours seem really very exotic to me, and very beautiful, like flying jewels.

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  3. Beautiful pictures. Humming birds are so tiny and very frail. I found that if you put a dab of vaseline at the top of the hanger the ants won't pass to the feeder. I do it for mine.

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  4. I would simply love to have a bird like that in my garden - the nearest we get to it are our humming-bird hawk moths. I remember seeing one for the first time in France about six years ago one summers evening, but now they can be found here. I have had one in the garden this year, but it was too quick for me to photograph it.

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  5. Beautiful photos Mary. I thought it was the male with the red throat, not the female.

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    1. You are quite right Penny, thanks - I hadn't had my coffee that early!!!!!

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  6. Great photos, they are very hard to photograph! We see some ruby-throats here too, normally they have the red throats with a greenish tint to them. I actually stopped hanging the feeder due to ants!!

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  7. I'm so impressed you got a photo of him; those little birds are fast! We have one who drinks from our honeysuckle vine. :) We caught it teasing the cat the other day.

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  8. Fantastic photos Mary, hummingbirds are fascinating and I hope I might see one in Canada next month. We have only ever seen them once, in 2015 and they were so hard to photograph. I love you bird feeder too xx

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  9. Wonderful hummingbird pictures. I do the same thing at times too. Stand and wait for a picture. Our feeder has been fairly quiet this summer, not sure why. We get a lot of Ana hummingbirds in the winter. I see them fluttering around the garden; so I am guessing there is enough natural flowers for them right now.

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