Baby is back! Hummingbird that is:)
Well I’m pretty sure, the molting one, as she and the adult female seem to be co-existing, must be family for these to get along…but wait!
Esmeralda could still be Elmo! I did not know that!
I have had a passion for hummingbirds for a very long time. When we moved to Baja California, Mexico 13 years ago I was astounded by the variety and quantity of birds that came to our ranch in the Sierra de San Pedro Martir. I spent hours trying to photograph them, document the varieties and the migration time. We ended up changing the footnotes in a few books, we had varieties otherwise undocumented there. It was a wonderful experience. It started me on my path of photography. Coming back to Canada has been fabulous, to revisit the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird has been a joy, and to have a nest and watch a baby grow up has been such a treat. I will miss them when they go South, and I will be looking for them again in the Spring.
I shoot with a 6 year old Canon 6D on an old and now battered gifted Manfrotto tripod (Thanks Juanito!) with a Tamron 150-600 G2 lens. What it lacks at 150, it more than makes up for at 600mm. I have no flash so have to wait for good lighting, and be patient. I shoot a lot of frames, I also delete a lot of frames:) I use spot focus to get at least the head/beak nice and sharp. I used RAW 3200-4000 sec F10 ISO 5000 today with Topaz denoise. I set my feeder on the BBQ so I can look straight at it-today we had Mom, and baby Esmeralda/Elmo I think, the molting one. They seemed to co-exist together so figured they are family:) I had a lot of friendly help over the years figuring out hummingbird photography and one day hope to learn more with flashes, maybe this winter! As we won’t be doing any traveling for a bit! In the meantime, hoping Mr. Ruby-Throated shows up tomorrow morning!
Saludos amigos, stay safe, stay tuned and have fun shooting!