It has been a another great year for birding and bird photography. What's the secret for both. Getting out as much as you can.
Rufous Hummingbird
I have been lucky enough to see a few active Rufous Hummingbird nests. The female starts looking for a safe place for the nest few days after coming up north. She does all the work after mating has taken place. From building the nest to raising the next generation. And rarely everything goes smoothly, dealing with the weather and predators. Predators may include a squirrel and various birds. But rufous are tough, I have seen one go after a Common Raven, who was too close to the nest. A Common Raven can weigh as much as 1.6 kg. Rufous? Grab a nickel, put in your hand, that’s close to the weight of an adult Rufous Hummingbird, 5 grams. If you have a penny, you got half a Rufous hummingbird. Those are hard to find. Including half a hummingbird. I wanted one picture to remember the whole experience, this was it. It was a few days after the eggs had hatched, early in the morning, just me in the area. The female had returned to the nest, I looked around to make sure no one was in the area, pulled out the camera and took the picture. Afterwards, she sat on the nest, I walked away.
Rufous Hummingbird
Always special coming across bird nests, in this case it was of a Rufous Hummingbird. These two were out of there few days after this picture was taken, by now they should be part way south to their winter home.
Rufous Hummingbird
I came across an active Rufous Hummingbird nest during the latter part of July, normally when the hummingbirds are done with nesting and enjoying the summer until they make their way to Mexico for the summer. During the summer the Rufous Hummingbirds can be found as far north as Alaska. No other hummingbird breeds farther north then the rufous. One way travel from their winter home Mexico to Alaska is about 6400 kilometres, not bad work for a very small but feisty 8 cm long bird.
Rufous Hummingbird
Over the summer I got to watch this mother look after two nestlings. Over a three week period saw her catching insects, feeding and as well looking after herself. This picture I took in the morning after she just finished with the feeding and taking a rest.
Rufous Hummingbird
During part of a morning I watched couple of hummingbirds taking nectar from these small flowers belonging to gooseberry plants. About every ten minutes one of the hummingbird would show up to take the nectar and I would take their pictures during the process. Hummingbirds need lot energy each day, so when these flowers are out they take full advantage of it.
Rufous Hummingbirds
Spent number of hours in the evening and in the early morning over the last few weeks near a Rufous Hummingbird's nest. Observing and learning their behaviour and taking many pictures as I fed the mosquitoes. The mother and her offspring are probably making their way south now, leaving me with pictures and memories. One of my favourite picture was taken few weeks back, the mother feeding one of her hatchlings.
Until next moment,
Amar
Rufous Hummingbirds
Grab a nickel and hold it in your hands, a Rufous Hummingbird weight even less than that. Nickel’s weight is about 5 grams, an adult rufous weights three to four grams. They tend to spend their winter in Mexico, but can be found as far north as Alaska in the summer. They need lot of nectar or the occasional small insects to have the energy to migrate, consume more than their weight in nectar each day. Only know bird that can fly backward, using this and their other abilities to defend their territory, even if just passing through. A very feisty bird, even more then I when defending my last piece of chocolate.
So few months back I was very excited when a friend had showed me a nest of Rufous Hummingbird. At top of the nest, the diameter not larger than the diameter of 1985 National Parks of Canada 100 anniversary silver dollar. Which weight 15.62 grams, you can do the math to figure out home many Rufous Hummingbirds that would be. I visited the nest few times a week, taking pictures with each visit, first just the adult and eventually two immature hummingbirds. The attached picture was taken few days after the nest was vacated, giving me chance to do my silver dollar experiment.
Until next moment,
Amar