Nesting Green-Breasted Mango

RVT1K · Jun 3, 2022

This is a new-to me bird, a female Green-Breasted Mango hummingbird.

And in another first for me, I've never seen a hummingbird nest before other than in pictures or on TV.

Now that I know where it is, I'm hoping to get some shots of babies. Unfortunately the nest is quite high and this will be the only vantage I'll see it from unless I rent a cherry-picker.

K9Kirk · Jun 3, 2022

Nice shot. If you can mount your camera on a long pole that will get up close/level to the nest and use a wireless shutter release you could possibly get some shots of the babies. Never tried it myself but I have held my camera over my head and got some decent shots pointed it at bees that I couldn't see which were on top of tall flowers. It would take a little work, but I think it would be fruitful.

jeffashman · Jun 3, 2022

Very nice shot! What lens? Do you have a 600mm?

RVT1K · Jun 4, 2022

The shot was taken with my D4 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 with a 1.7x tele-converter for a total of 340mm.

The nest is a good 20+ feet up in tree and it just isn't realistic to get much higher for a better vantage.

I went back this morning with my D3 and Tamron 300mm f/2.8 with a 2x tele-converter but did not spot the nest.

In some shameless whining, that combo is HEAVY (the D4/70-200 is merely heavy) and hard to hand hold. My monopod isn't tall enough for me to stand and look up that high and I am really regretting the decision to not disassemble and bring my tripod.