Hannibal's House of Hummingbirds

I have been attracting hummingbirds to my house with feeders filled with sugar water for the entire summer. It seemed that at the beginning of the season, I might have had 1 or 2. Now, as we are nearing the end of the season, I have had up to 8 individuals. These guys and a few females have been zipping past me for a month now, getting ready for their migration. I suspect a few have already left, because the nights are getting quite chilly, and the buzzing and chattering I hear throughout the day has grown infrequent. I really have enjoyed this particular season the most, because the activity at its peak was quite chaotic for these amazing little guys, trying to protect a certain feeder from other intruders.
I set up these shots with a tripod not more than 5 feet away focusing on the feeder or a certain branch in a tree. My lawnchair, drink, and smokes make it comfortable enough to stay and wait for hours. With patience and slow movements, I was able to get quite a few shots that I like. I did handfeed them this year, but setting up the camera shot was a bust, though I did attempt it. I needed an assistant for that shot, but none were available. Maybe next year...

Tomorrow....Coyote!

Hummers

A co-worker handfeeding a hummer




My first encounter with hummingbirds up close and personal, was at my boss's house after he told me he can hold his feeder in his hand and the hummers would come to feed. I could hardly believe this because for one, he exaggerates. So, I went to his house with my camera (back then it was a Pentax K1000 film camera, and totally manual), witnessed this phenomenon and just had to do it for myself. Let me tell you, it was really freaky when the hummer would hover near your ear, and try not to swat at them as your instinct tells you. We ended up standing side by side with 2 feeders, and both of us would get visitors, which was absolutely amazing. Since that summer, he has not had that number of hummers as previous, so the handfeeding has not been attempted.

I took a stab at attracting my own and set up a feeder near my pool along with various other bird feeders. My objective was to get a close up (from the pool) because it seems the birds don't see me from there. I don't understand why, but it is true. So with many attempts, I got off a few good shots from about 4 feet away. Although I do not like unnatural settings, this was as close as I was going to get without luck.