Ruby Throated Hummingbirds

[Railphotog]

I've been taking photos of hummingbirds in our backyard for several years now. We usually only have one female hanging around most of the summer, and have seldom seen the much more colorful male.

Last month I chanced upon four of them fighting for our feeders, three of which were males. Of course it wasn't the best of days, raining fairly heavily and being dark. One feeder is about 8-10 feet from a downstairs bedroom, so this is where I set up to photograph them. I needed to go to ISO 800 and 1600 to be able to shoot at a decent speed with my lenses wide open. The wee birds fought for position at the feeder for quite some time, and I took a lot of photos. Anyone who has tried to take photos of the hummers will know that there are usually more discards than there are keepers.

Here are a few of my keepers:

1.

2.

3.

4.

#1 and 2 were just shot when something came into view, one does not see a scene then shoot it, as they happen way too fast. I didn't know what I had gotten until after the shots were taken.

#1, 2, and 4 were taken with my Canon 75-300mm IS zoom, #3 with a Sigma 170-500mm zoom. Camera was a Canon XSi, mounted on a monopod to help carry the weight of the gear. The streaks you see in the background are falling rain drops.

Sadly, it seems the males have all left for greener pastures, with a lone female that I'll try to capture this summer.

Fun while it lasted!