June is not turning out to be one of my best months this year. Besides having some unpleasant medical tests done, my right knee, which I injured years ago, is also hurting a lot for over a week now. So, instead of going to the air show with my hubby this past weekend, I could only watch the planes that flew by our backyard. Since we live in the airport area, I saw quite a few and heard even more.
To make my time at home more pleasant, I've been photographing the ruby-throated hummingbirds that visit our feeder. I could do this from the comfort of a garden chair. Life doesn't get much easier than this, but photographing hummingbirds is no easy task. First of all, they are fast--really fast. A more dedicated photographer would probably set up several flashes, but I only have one flash and so it took quite a few shots to get a decent photo. Yesterday, I finally took some shots of both a male and female hummingbird that I'm proud to show everybody (which I'm doing right here). The hummingbirds are hitting our feeders hard and are not happy when the syrup gets too old (too old meaning three days max.). So, they might as well pose for my camera to earn their keep. They are fun to watch, but they are quite territorial and don't like it at all when another bird shows up at the same time. Never mind that there's enough for everybody, and how do some people manage to photograph half a dozen hummingbirds at their feeder at the same time?
Other than that, I haven't seen any unusual birds lately, except for a possible oriole sighting, but it has been a strange year. The weather has been weird this summer and the birds and plants are surely affected by that. Oh well, that's what makes bird photography so interesting and sometimes frustrating.
1 comment:
Hummingbirds are territorial, all right! The ones in California dive-bombed each other, rivaling that bi-plane stunt pilot at the air show.
Hope you feel better soon! I'm glad you're still finding opportunities for bird photography. Nice picture!
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