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.