Hummingbirds are insane small packages of intense energy. They inhabit Colorado in the summer on their way north from Central America en route to points as far north as Alaska.
They are extremely fierce defending their territories. Bird feeder warfare is common. I’ve watch hummers chase each other at preposterous speeds—straight up, around, back-and-forth, and straight down again. They can cover great distances–horizontally and vertically in mere seconds. I’m amazed that I have not yet been broadsided in the head by one of them.
Hummers are also very inquisitive. While shooting these images, sitting quietly in an Adirondack chair on my deck, with the shutter cord in my hand, the birds would often buzz up to within one or two feet of my face. They’d look directly at me for about 5 seconds, as if assessing my worthiness as a colorful enough character, then zoom away. Not colorful or sweet enough, I guess. In those brief interludes, for some reason I often had discomforting mental flashbacks to the Hitchcock movie, “The Birds.”
They are rather difficult to photograph. But if you study their movements, patterns and behaviors long enough, and have some enticing treats, the results are fascinating and rewarding.
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