I've never really paid attention to hummingbirds until we moved out here in the peaceful, quiet pasture. Now that I can't see my neighbors so well, I needed something to watch. I bought a ten-dollar hummingbird feeder and found that if you hang it, they will come. 
The feeder in these pictures is not a ten-dollar feeder. It's a tiny plastic one that cost 75 cents at Walmart. But for some reason, the birds seem to prefer it. So it keeps me busy filling it, because it holds less than 1/2 cup.
I didn't use zoom on these shots, and I didn't crop to make the hummingbird look closer than he was. I really was that close. They've gotten used to me, and if I'm very still, they don't mind my watching them. I was about five feet from this little guy, snapping away.
Oh, he'd see me and dart away, but then he'd return.
And finally I was able to get a picture of him with his beak in the sugar-water.Now that I have quite a crowd of the little suckers, I'm learning that they aren't all that nice to one another. They fight over the feeders more than they drink from them! Hopefully one day I'll have the patience to stand there and get pictures of them fighting.
Humming birds are amazing, so are all the other wild birds.
ReplyDeleteMy mother has feeders everywhere, and every time I see a hummer, or any other birds, I take it as God's little gift to me.
Hummers are noted for being fighters. Maybe they are trying to make up for what they lack in size. I love to watch them though, their colors are so vibrant. Some people have patience enough to put the sugar water in their hand and get them to eat it that way! I guess I don't have that kind of patience but it would be fun.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they would show up in my backyard if I put something out? They are so fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThey are fun to watch! Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteIt makes my day whenever I get to witness something like this from nature.
ReplyDeleteYou get to watch this everyday. That is wonderful.
It is interesting that they get attracted and somehow know that the feeder is for them.
I thought the ultraviolet that flowers emit draws them, but the feeder doesn't look anything like a flower. Yet they know and feed off it.
Beautiful spectacle anyway. I'd love to see a closed-up photo of your little visitors someday.
BEAUTIFUL....
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