Last year, I decided to put out a hummingbird feeder on the off chance that I'd attract one or two. It worked; a pair of hummingbirds would visit the feeder daily until the end of summer. At that time, I had a pretty modest lens to capture them with, but I was determined to try to capture them up close the following summer.
This summer, I bought an additional feeder, and arms that held them up above our deck rail, so as they sat on the feeder, I could get a nice shot of them from my kitchen window.
That wasn't enough, though. I really wanted for them to get used to me seeing them and using my camera around them, and this past Christmas, I got a lovely lens (a Nikkor 150-600), and I was even more determined not only to capture them, but as close as I could. The last image in the set is the closest I got to the female.
This past summer, we had *two* pairs of hummingbirds visit, and the ladies would zip around scaring the males away so they could sit and sip their sugar water.
Now that I've got a better understanding of how to play with shutter speed, my next project will be trying to capture them in flight - landing at the feeder, or flying away from it.
They're super cute, and the trek that they make to New England from Mexico is long and tiring; if you live anywhere along the East Coast of the U.S., you should plant flowers that attract them, or hang out feeders using sugar water; they expend a lot of energy, and it helps keep them going!
