Humming along nicely....

A hummingbird feeder...hung just inches away from where we eat.
I've been wondering if I could take a decent hummingbird picture.


All I need is a hungry hummingbird...


Two kinds of hummers visit us regularly: The Broadtail and the Black Chinned.

After playing with various camera settings....

I decide I need a faster better camera...

I take dozens of shots...each time w-a-i-t-i-n-g for the digital camera to load and clear me for another shot.


Anything to get a few fairly good shots...I was leaning way over the railing, and was just inches from the feeder at this point.


At one point the hummers were starting to get more interested in me than in the feeder.


There were three birds zipping around.



Bernie was laughing as he watched me learning over the deck railing to get inches away from the feeder...

While another hummer was hovering inches behind my head, trying to figure out what I was doing.
(And wouldn't that have been the best shot ever?)

War was on-going, as is always the case with the feisty little birds.
Look at the top of the above picture to see how wide the tail is on the top bird!
Very threatening, no?

As soon as one would get close to the feeder, another one would zoom in to intercept him.

I wonder why they used to call it a "dog fight" when the old airplanes used to do battle in the sky.
On the other hand...I guess a "hummingbird fight" doesn't sound very tough.

Bernie was cooking up some nice halibut for dinner, and told me the fish was done, and it was time to come inside. The picture is blurry because the window is creating a double reflection, but you can see that the hummers are just inches away on the other side of the glass, and they routinely check out what we are eating.

Yes...sometimes we have a very busy meal times.

I was itching to get back outside to take a few more shots.

Hart decided the hummers had had enough attention from me for the day.

(He can't get the birds unless he plans to fall over the railing and land one story down!)

Oh...and there was a wood pecker too!

(SO much excitement, all in one early evening. Whew!)