A few more hummingbird photos

[MystrE]

Today has been an all day long battle royale amongst a group of hummingbirds. They love hiding in my sweet olive tree and waiting for some unsuspecting hummer to move towards the feeder; then it's on big time.
This hummer was watching another rival a few branches above him. Every now and then, he would bow up to show how manly man he was...

 

[MystrE]

Early this morning, it was a little more peaceful in the sweet olive tree.

 

[MystrE]

I managed to get this one on his way to my other feeder. I've got to work on a balance of sharpness of the bird vs. blurring the background better.

 

[baturn]

Very nice! I see the same rivalry and posturing at my feeder daily. The male Anna's are especially aggressive.

 

[MystrE]

There were mid air collisions, lots of chirping, grappling, and all sorts of miscreant behavior. Why can't they all just get along? I've got 2 Hummzinger Ultra feeders arriving today and I'll set them out to maybe give some of the less dominant birds a chance to feed.
There was so much action around one of my feeders, my poor little Nikon 55-300VR lens couldn't keep up with trying to focus! I took this photo yesterday morning even though the sun was at a bad angle.

 

[sm4him]

These are terrific! My resident hummers seem to have taken off for warmer climes after the temp dipped into the 40s one morning early this week. I haven't seen them since then--but I'm still hoping to catch a few others as they migrate through. They are so entertaining to watch!
The birders say that hummers spend a lot more time feeding just before they migrate, storing up energy for their long journey. But my experience (this was the first year I put hummingbird feeders out, so this is based on my vast one year of entertaining hummers in my yard, lol) is that they spent WAY more time chasing each other around than they spent actually feeding!

 

[MystrE]

Thank you! They should soon be migrating from this area which is why I'm seeing a feeding frenzy. I've been asked to leave up one feeder through the fall and winter just in case one or two decide to stay behind. This hummingbird was probably thinking, "let me scootch over to the end of this rose bud to see if I can break it off the bush".