Hummingbird Pics

[Jeemag_USA]

I know these are not a Caithness bird, but as a Caithnesian abroad, I thought some fellow twitchers might apprecite seeing my photos. I managed to find a feeder I could stick to my window, took a lot of work because this is the second story of the house and I had to take the double glazing apart to get this stuck up here, but it was well worth it to watch them while sitting at my computer, and they don't seem to care about me being there. I will get better pics, its a dull day so you can't see how irridescant their green feathers are, I am only getting females right now, the male looks the same except he has a bright red throat. This is the only type of hummingbird we get here its called the Northern Humming Bird. I'll try to get a little movie of them some time too.

[Jeemag_USA]

Last one, will wait for a sunny day next time I snap them, the pictures are a little fuzzy because its through a double glazed window.

[Jeemag_USA]

Two pictures in flight, first one is a bit fuzzy but I put a beer bottle cap in the window so you can get some perspective on ust how tiny the girls are. The second one is a cracker, you can see how the wings are just a blur to the human eye, only taking a picture lets you get a faint glimpse of the wings in flight.

[Kenn]

What sort of humming bird?

[Jeemag_USA]

The correct name for this Humming Bird is the "Ruby Throated Hummingbird" (Archilochus Colubris) I got the name wrong above when I said Northern Hummingbird in the first post. Hopefully I will get a picture of a male soon so you can see how it got its name.

This is a picture of the male from enature.com , great picture of one on a Thistle no less. I will put one of my own up when I catch one.

[Jeemag_USA]

The funny thing about these birds too is they have no concept of sharing, there are two perches but I have yet to see them both being used, when two birds come to the feeder, one wil always try to knock the other away. The males tend to get more active around feeders later in the summer shortly before flying south, they get quite violent and I have seen one male take it upon himself to guard a feeder without even drinking from it, he will just dive bomb any other that comes near it and stab at them, its quite funny to watch. I am not sure of the reason but early in the summer the males tend to stay away from public eye? Last year when i just used the hanging feeder I have seen a male and female and sometimes two females at a feeder at the same time with no fighting so they must have been of the same family.

[Jeemag_USA]

I managed to take a little movie, its almost dusk and they are still going mad at the feeder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb_FwKCQIjk

[sassylass]

Good idea to put up a feeder like that, amusing little birds aren't they lol

[Ricco]

I love hummingbirds and really miss them. I even bought a feeder lats time I was in Canada - sad or what! Still I fed a lot of wasps.

[WeeBurd]

Awww, geat pics, Jeemag!

[Jeemag_USA]

Two new pisc, refilled the feeder and cleaned the window. I have come to the conclusion that there are males coming to the feeder but they are this years young, and have not developed their ruby throat yet, some of the ones coming have a plain throat and some have some stripes made up of dark dots, I think these are the young males, like the one in this photos, I think it will be later in the summer before I get some pics of the bright ruby throat. This is two angles of the same snap.

[Jeemag_USA]

Aaagh, just after I got these uploaded a beautiful adult male came to the window and I scared him off trying to get the camera ready, bummer, wil keep trying.

[Margaret M.]

Great shots, Jeemag. For the first year in a long time, I have not put hummingbird feeders up. I've planted lots of flowers that they like and I see them around those all the time. They hardly touched the sugar water last year but they always guarded the feeders. I got tired of cleaning and refilling for so little consumption. I have never understood the need for more than one perch either since they are so territorial. In all the years I've fed them and I've had as many as 10 feeders up at one time, I have yet to see more than one at the same feeder.

[Jeemag_USA]

Great shots, Jeemag. For the first year in a long time, I have not put hummingbird feeders up. I've planted lots of flowers that they like and I see them around those all the time. They hardly touched the sugar water last year but they always guarded the feeders. I got tired of cleaning and refilling for so little consumption. I have never understood the need for more than one perch either since they are so territorial. In all the years I've fed them and I've had as many as 10 feeders up at one time, I have yet to see more than one at the same feeder.

Maybe you just had too many feeders up, thats why they were consuming less. I only have two , one in front and one in back, it empties in 2 and a half to three days, they suck it down like its going out of fashion. once last night i had both perches in uses for a half a minute or so, it is pretty rare though.

[Sporran]

Fabulous hummingbird photos and video, Jeemag_USA!

[Jeemag_USA]

Fabulous hummingbird photos and video, Jeemag_USA!

Thanks Sporran, will hopefully get some good shots of the males over the weekend. I think the males must tend the nest for these birds, thats why I am only seeing them now and again, once the wee cheels are more independent the adult males will be more frequent.

[Margaret M.]

Maybe you just had too many feeders up, thats why they were consuming less.

Sorry for the confusion -- I used to have 10 feeders up when I lived in the country. There was a mass of hummingbirds and it was a job and a half cleaning and refilling all the feeders but they were fun to watch. Since moving closer to the city, I don't see as many and I just had a couple of feeders up.

Your photos are wonderful considering they move so quickly and make it tough to capture a good shot.