a little birdy told me

[piranha]

man, the little suckers are FAST. i need a hummingbird blind with a tripod.

Comments

[graydon]

First OFO bird walk I went on, it was highly intimidating; all these people apparently able to summon birds from the vasty deep (I certainly hadn't seen a bird there, seconds previously), sort diverse warblers and sparrows into regional sub-species by vocalization, identify small sand-pipers by flight style, and so on.

Near the end of the day, walking out of the part, there was a "we should check out that old apple tree" comment, and, from maybe 30m, there was a sudden buzzing, jinking, blur with a long pointy beak, heading away from the apple tree and into a stand of cottonwoods.

I didn't manage to get it in view in binoculars, and I don't think anyone else did, either; it was moving in a realm of speed outside of human reaction time.

There was a slight pause, and the walk leader -- one of the cheerful folks with the ability to sort the sparrows by song -- said "well, that was some sort of hummingbird".

Getting that shot with no blind, in the dim shade, is doing very well.

Re: a little birdy told me

[piranha]

*heh*.

yeah, in straight flight they're impossible to photograph for me, though i can always tell what it is because their wings make a very specific sound; like a hugely overgrown hornet.

i've got quite a few flowers now which they really like, and a new spot for a feeder, so i should be able to get better pictures than before.

[zxhrue]

what graydon said. if this was an unplanned shot from the hip snap, you scored big-time. and yeah, they are +fast, and twitchy/aggressive too, at least the ones here in the piedmont.

a little birdy told me

[piranha]

definitely unplanned, and crouching down. very aggressive; they don't even like another one on the same plant, or at the feeder. overcompensating, i guess. ;)

[jesse_the_k]

I've only seen a hummingbird once in real life, and I'd hardly registered that that was what I was seeing before it was gone.

awesome photo!

a little birdy told me

[piranha]

thanks! they are such awesome flyers.

i like your icon -- is that of something real, or drawn?

Re: a little birdy told me

[jesse_the_k]

I often wonder that myself. It's one of the mysteries of the Iconomicon.

[crantz]

Aw, look at him! For some reason I thought he was a fish at first, followed by the thought 'but how would a fish be eating a flower?'