In My Backyard

I’m always looking for ideas for blog posts and I think – after showing you Adele the Woodchuck last week – that the occasional post about what’s in my back yard might be fun.  This week it’s all about hummingbirds.

We put out 3 feeders this year and they are all hanging in and around the perennial bed. The hummingbirds make a regular loop from the feeders to the walnut tree, around the house to the lilac bushes, and then back to the feeders.

You can almost always spot one in the nut tree if you look closely enough.

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See what I mean?

The other day I sat out in the yard with my camera for a long time. I saw the little birds constantly but getting good pictures of them is tricky – they are fast!

hummingbird on crook blog size

Luckily, this one perched on top of this shepherds crook for a while. She must have been pretty comfortable because she sat there for a few minutes, looking left and right and all around.

hummingbird looking at me blog size

At one point she looked right at me. This shot just cracks me up.

hummingbird on feeder blog size

Finally, she moved off the crook and over to the feeder for a drink.

And then she was gone, back in her loop from tree to feeder to bush.

It must be exhausting being a hummingbird.

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This Post Has 20 Comments

  1. OMG, WOW! I have tried and tried (but I have limited patience, I must admit) to get photos of hummers. Always wondering HOW people do it. And also, those photos where there are multiples at a feeder MUST be photoshopped. They are so territorial, they chase each other away from the feeder even when there is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED TO! CHILL, little buggers, there’s plenty for everybody!!! 🙂

  2. Very cool. I should get my hummingbird feeder out. I haven’t had much luck spotting any – maybe it’s more my impatience than anything.

  4. I get them later when my bee balm and foxglove are blooming. They do stop and perch for a brief rest contrary to popular belief. They are *loud* if you get buzzed by one as I have- rather startling to have one unexpectedly go nose to nose with you!

  5. Poor little female birds are exhausted because the fancy, smancy male is a wham bam thank you ma’am kinda guy. She has to do all the work and raise the kids. Poor thing.

  6. I love these little iridescent guys. When i lived in California, we saw them all the time. We had bougainvillea on our side fence and invariably we’d have a mama nesting inside it. Their tenacity is amazing – as was yours getting such incredible photos.

  7. Lovely pictures! We used to get a lot of hummingbirds when I grew big pots of purple morning glories on the patio. I remember one hovering nose-to-beak with my dog one morning. I held my breath, waiting for *CHOMP!*…but they just looked at each other, the hummer flew away, and the dog turned and looked at me as if to say, “What the heck was THAT????” LOL…I live in a Disney movie…

  10. Wonderful! We’ve had so few hummers in the last few years. I put out 2 feeders this year, but so far have seen only one male, one time.

  12. I’m jealous! Maybe they haven’t made it to Alabama yet? I’ve been on the lookout but haven’t seen any yet. I’m sure they’ll flit off before I can return with my camera, but I still have hopes of capturing one on film.

  13. I used to have a hummingbird in the yard who would hover a few feet from me whenever I went out to the garden — chatting and nagging until I turned the hose on mist for him. He’d fly through the misty spray a few times, chirp that I was a good human, then go off to groom his elegant self on a sunny branch. The little emperor!

  14. Lovely pictures! We used to get a lot of hummingbirds when I grew big pots of purple morning glories on the patio. I remember one hovering nose-to-beak with my dog one morning. I held my breath, waiting for *CHOMP!*…but they just looked at each other, the hummer flew away, and the dog turned and looked at me as if to say, “What the heck was THAT????” LOL…I live in a Disney movie…
    +1

  15. I have never been good enough with a camera to catch those little birds! Your shots are beautful…

  18. This is the frst year I’ve had hummingbird feedsers but I haven’t had any hummignbirds yet. Reading this post has me wonderig if I should put them in a better place. Hmmm.. Great pictures. You are so patient.

  19. A hummingbird hovered about a foot in front of my face and stared at me once when I was sitting on my deck. It was scary!

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