"Padraig" wrote in message
...


Tell me, do you sit waiting for these shots or do you race for the camera
when you see them?

I do the latter :-(

Mary

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:36:52 -0700, "Padraig"
wrote:

Is his name Jim? )

"joevan" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:36:52 -0700, "Padraig"
wrote:

Is his name Jim? )


No. It's "Old".
--
Paddy's Pig
------------
To reply its bell not bull

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Padraig" wrote in message
...

Tell me, do you sit waiting for these shots or do you race for the camera
when you see them?


A little of both. I even shot one from inside the house the other day...a
couple of doves on a finch feeder right outside my office/library.

I often sit outside on the patio working a crossword or sudoku with the
camera sitting alongside, just in case. I don't call that sitting and
waiting but some people might. Other times I've run inside and grabbed the
camera on a moment's notice.

But the hummingbird pics? They require deliberate stalking, or at least
lying in wait. You have to be ready to shoot when a "model" comes along and
"poses" because they don't pose for long. And they're pretty solitary
animals. They don't flock like finches or even crows for that matter.
Normally I see them one at a time. Rarely more than two. The most I've
seen in the yard at one time is three.
--
Paddy's Pig
------------
To reply its bell not bull

"Omelet" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"Padraig" wrote:

But the hummingbird pics? They require deliberate stalking, or at least
lying in wait. You have to be ready to shoot when a "model" comes along
and
"poses" because they don't pose for long. And they're pretty solitary
animals. They don't flock like finches or even crows for that matter.
Normally I see them one at a time. Rarely more than two. The most I've
seen in the yard at one time is three.
--
Paddy's Pig

Really???

That's interesting. :-)


Don't misunderstand: I know that under some circumstances more than 3
hummers may appear at one location at the same time. I have seen
photographic evidence of that myself and if I recall, I think I remember you
saying your family lived on a hummingbird migration route when you were in
California. Maybe my memory is faulty about that but I concede hummingbird
migration routes probably do exist - for the breeds that migrate anyway.
Remember, mine are Anna's hummers and they don't. They're year-round birds.
I almost never see any other kind in my yard. I am certainly not on any
kind of migration route so what I said applies to my situation. And it's
also true that most hummers except for migration season do not usually hang
out together. They're too competitive and combative for that. Heck, even
the males and females can't stand each other except for a little while they
get together in breeding season. In the case of Anna's hummingbirds the
male's sole function is to fertilize eggs. Then he's outta there. He does
not participate in any family upbringing chores.

Generally speaking I think any hummer I see in my area is going to be a
"loner".
--
Paddy's Pig
------------
To reply its bell not bull

"Padraig" wrote in message
...

....

But the hummingbird pics? They require deliberate stalking, or at least
lying in wait. You have to be ready to shoot when a "model" comes along
and "poses" because they don't pose for long. And they're pretty solitary
animals. They don't flock like finches or even crows for that matter.
Normally I see them one at a time. Rarely more than two. The most I've
seen in the yard at one time is three.

I've only once seen a hummingbird, while I was staying with friends in Puget
Sound. I thought hummers were tropical birds and couldn't believe what I saw
so of course I rushed for my camera. I shot the bird with excited, shaky
hands, through a large window and since the dwelling was in prime growth
forest the lighting wasn't ideal.

Ah well, I tried, and I remembered what the shot was when it was printed.

Yes, it was that long ago, in 1990.

Mary

In article ,
"Padraig" wrote:

But the hummingbird pics? They require deliberate stalking, or at least
lying in wait. You have to be ready to shoot when a "model" comes along and
"poses" because they don't pose for long. And they're pretty solitary
animals. They don't flock like finches or even crows for that matter.
Normally I see them one at a time. Rarely more than two. The most I've
seen in the yard at one time is three.
--
Paddy's Pig

Really???

That's interesting. :-)

While I still have not found mom's multi-hummer pics around our feeders
so I can scan them, here is one submitted to a.d.p. by Tom Turley. He
also lives in California.

It's one of my (many) favorites in my HD desktop files:
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

In article ,
"Padraig" wrote:

Don't misunderstand: I know that under some circumstances more than 3
hummers may appear at one location at the same time. I have seen
photographic evidence of that myself and if I recall, I think I remember you
saying your family lived on a hummingbird migration route when you were in
California. Maybe my memory is faulty about that but I concede hummingbird
migration routes probably do exist - for the breeds that migrate anyway.
Remember, mine are Anna's hummers and they don't. They're year-round birds.
I almost never see any other kind in my yard. I am certainly not on any
kind of migration route so what I said applies to my situation. And it's
also true that most hummers except for migration season do not usually hang
out together. They're too competitive and combative for that. Heck, even
the males and females can't stand each other except for a little while they
get together in breeding season. In the case of Anna's hummingbirds the
male's sole function is to fertilize eggs. Then he's outta there. He does
not participate in any family upbringing chores.

Generally speaking I think any hummer I see in my area is going to be a
"loner".
--
Paddy's Pig
------------
To reply its bell not bull

Apologies... did not mean to contradict you!

I guess we were lucky in our area. We had Anna's, Ruby throats, Rufuses
and some with a beautiful Golden throat I cannot remember the name of.
We also had the occasional Baltimore Oriel tilt the feeder from the
perch to run nectar into their beaks. They were beautiful!

From the looks of the pic Tom posted, he also may have been on a route.

This past migration season, someone sent me a pic of a coastal migration
area where a woman held a bowl of sugar water in her hands and had the
birds landing on her hands around the bowl to feed before they flew
across the gulf. I was unable to save them tho' as the file types were
not mac compatible.

I do know that some hummers stayed with us in the summer and nested in
our oak trees. The nests were too high for mom to photograph tho' as dad
tended to overdo it with the pruning hights.

I also remember watching the aerial mating dances.

Hummingbirds are fascinating!

And yes, territorial. Mom used to discourage the "feeder pigs" with a
sprayer nozzle on the hose, but not enough to hurt them, just enough to
drive them off.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Padraig" wrote in message
...

...

But the hummingbird pics? They require deliberate stalking, or at
least lying in wait. You have to be ready to shoot when a "model"
comes along and "poses" because they don't pose for long. And
they're pretty solitary animals. They don't flock like finches or
even crows for that matter. Normally I see them one at a time.
Rarely more than two. The most I've seen in the yard at one time is
three.

I've only once seen a hummingbird, while I was staying with friends in
Puget Sound. I thought hummers were tropical birds and couldn't
believe what I saw so of course I rushed for my camera. I shot the
bird with excited, shaky hands, through a large window and since the
dwelling was in prime growth forest the lighting wasn't ideal.

Ah well, I tried, and I remembered what the shot was when it was
printed.

Yes, it was that long ago, in 1990.


We have hummingbirds year round.

--
Travis in Shoreline Washington

"Travis M." wrote in message
news:vQzMh.7080$YD.5896@trnddc06...

I've only once seen a hummingbird, while I was staying with friends in
Puget Sound. I thought hummers were tropical birds and couldn't believe
what I saw so of course I rushed for my camera. I shot the bird with
excited, shaky hands, through a large window and since the dwelling was
in prime growth forest the lighting wasn't ideal.

Ah well, I tried, and I remembered what the shot was when it was printed.

Yes, it was that long ago, in 1990.


We have hummingbirds year round.

So I was told, it was a great srprise, that's all :-)

Mary

--
Travis in Shoreline Washington