Photo Of The Day by Scott Bechtel

Scott Bechtel’s photo of a male rufous hummingbird is today’s Photo Of The Day. Bechtel submitted the photo to the Your Best Photo Of 2013 Assignment. The photo was taken near Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada. Well-composed hummingbird photos where the birds are frozen in motion are incredibly difficult to get, and for many bird photographers, they are among the most challenging and sought-after images in the Rubicon of nature photography. This photo is particularly compelling because the wings show a hint of movement, while the body and tail feathers are sharp. The male rufous hummingbird was making a display of showing he is in charge when another male appeared over Bechtel’s head. He used a Nikon D7000 and a Nikon 70-300mm lens.

The Your Best Photo Of 2013 Assignment is open until January 7th at midnight.

Photo of the Day is chosen from various OP galleries, including Assignments, Your Favorite Places and the OP Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the OP website homepage and several images from the Assignment Gallery are picked to be featured in The Best Of Assignments section in the print magazine. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.