Friday, September 12, 2014

The Hummingbird Blog


I may have to change the name of my blog from "One Day at a Time" to "The Hummingbird Blog". These little balls of fluff, among the smallest in the class of birds, are so photogenic, I have taken lots of pictures (I am talking hundreds) so I would like to share at least a "few" of those. As long as I can keep the text and images related, I guess I will stick with the them.


One of the things I love about photography - and especially using a telephoto lens to capture images - is that it gives you the ability to see things you would otherwise never have the chance to observe. It lets you get close to animal with your eyes when thry would never allow you to get close with your body. It also permits you to take as much time as you would like examining minute details you might never be able to see from a distance.


Cameras have other useful abilities too, like being able to stop a hummingbird's wing beat, allowing you to see something that would otherwise occur too fast to observe. And, at the other end of time, cameras can also slow something down, creating something you would never see.


I recall one time when my wife played "I'm a camera" hoping to see a hummingbird up close. She stood perfectly still next to one of our hummingbird feeders to see whether one would come in and allow her to examine it. And one did. It flew within inches of her face, hovered there and studied her. The bird was so close, my wife lost her nerve and closed her eyes, fearful it might see the glistening and be tempted to sample her tears.

This one is a little noisy, but I wanted you to 
be able to see the exquisite colors that are there.

Hummingbirds are one of the few birds that will tolerate humans being that close. You couldn't do that with an eagle - unless of course you have a telephoto.

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