my first post here. anna's hummingbird courtship display

[terryger]

i know a couple of you from other sites and happy to be on this one too! this should be the most active outdoor site so i guess we'll just have to bring it up to that level

yeah i know they are a little noisy and have a few other problems but the subject it the main point on these. hope you like them.


much like our own species, the male in his natural state flys to a prominant position where he can he seen by as many available females as possible




then begins posturing adn showing off for the girls










as we find so often with our own speices , the girls are not always impressed
species the

[bob_r]

Terry,

Those are terrific! I see from the exif info that you're shooting a Canon and these were taken at 400mm f/5.6. Were they taken with a Canon 400mm f/5.6 prime? I bought that lens and really liked the results, but returned it and bought Canon's 100-400mm. It's probably not quite as sharp as the prime, but works better for me.

*Update - After seeing your redtail shots, I know you're not shooting the 400mm prime. Those are some wonderful shots too, especially the 4th and 5th shots. They really show a lot of detail.

Glad to see a new name on the forum and we could certainly use some help generating more activity. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work. Since the only hummingbirds I've seen that resembled these were in California, can I assume that you're on or near the left coast? I normally check in here everyday, but have had a number of projects going recently and am just catching up on some of the posts.

Bob R

[Walczak Photo]

Hey Terry,
I agree with you that there are certainly some technical issues with these pics. On the other hand, being able to capture hummingbirds at all can be a feat in itself...good job! I really like that first image especially...I think with a little clean up effort and a slight crop (a little off the top and the left side...get rid of some of that waisted space), that one would make a very nice print.

Honestly, I've only seen a hummingbird twice in my life (other then pictures of course), and even if I had of had a camera with me, by the time I would have picked it up, both birds were already gone. For years my Grandmother had hummingbird feeders in her back yard. When I was a young kid, we'd sit there by the window and she'd say "oh, look...there's a pretty one..." and by the time I looked, it was already gone. For years I really thought my Grandmother was just BSin me! LOL! I never saw a single hummingbird at those feeders in all the summers I spent at my Grandma's....

Ahhh to be a youth running through the woods at Grandma's again (sigh)...

Bright Blessings,
Jim

[terryger]

thanx for the nice words folks and glad you like the hummers like we do.

bob r, yes, i was shooting the 100-400. my favorite lens. since my wife and i both shoot we have 2 and yes, we live in n. cal. we have 7 different species that come through here. i have photgraphed 5 of them.

and despite what you may hear, none are ruby throats.

jim, i never post up the best stuff i have on photopages. that is saved for paying customers.

i also would rather someone saw the beauty of a bird than the technical expertise of a shot. if you could post real size it would be different but since i have to sacrifice something to post up on the net, subject will be the last thing that gets lost

like you, many have never seen hummers up close or many at all.

i quite literally stumbled into the fact that they are quite popular with many people.