H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

Last Friday and Saturday we had cool mornings, very comfortable temperature for us as well as for birds. I prepared my camera and right after I refilled all the feeders (still dark as night) then immediately got ready for shooting! The sun started to show from behind the trees slowly bathing the backyard with light. Suddenly, the deck area and feeders began to be mobbed by birds coming from everywhere. It reminded me of special bargain sales at the Mall where every body wants to be there first! I was very happy indeed. I had a couple of weeks of being stumped with not many birds and now I was busy.

One highlight moment was when I saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird drinking nectar from the bottle feeder! Looked very happy having  fresh nectar that I refilled the day before which I even added extra sugar for more calories just in case of early departure.

I was surprised to see this male hummingbird just drinking some nectar and the he flew to a near branch to perch very calm, watching the other birds going back and forth. It was crazy traffic out there! For and added surprise I was panning with my camera when I saw it!… Actually saw her! A beautiful female RTH, yes! They are an item now! You should have seen them playing around. They were not in a any hurry to leave, that for sure. I was busy for about two hours shooting pictures and by then I had enough of it since the sun was getting too hot and bright. The frenzy about the feeders was almost over as well as all the seeds. So, I started to gather my things to end the session when I noticed that one of the hummingbirds flew toward me and got about 5 feet  in front of me and hovered looking at me!

It was simply a magical moment!

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Text and photographs © HJ Ruiz – Avian101