Entertainment that God Created for Us to Enjoy!
Oh how I love these little creatures! They show up around April and stay around until October. I saw the last one a week ago. I still have a feeder out just in case there is a late straggler coming through. The last week in September and the first week in October I think we had about 2 dozen in our yard. Of course, they were migrators headed south. I try to do my part in getting them ready for the trek across the Gulf by keeping all my feeders full for those few days and do tend to go through a lot of sugar water for those 2 weeks.
I believe that God created them for many reasons, the main one being for our entertainment. 😂 I can watch them for hours! And when they are used to you sitting there, they tend to have no fear. They will chase & fight each other! Oh my lands! how fun it is to watch! In late March/early April I will start putting out my feeders and say, "let the battles begin!" Actually, the Ruby Throated Hummingbird is quite territorial. I have watched an adult female defend as many as 3 feeders, even from her mate and her fledgling young! They can be quite mean to each other.
Another good thing about having them around, they also love mosquitoes! And let me tell you, if you make your yard a hummingbird highway you will have very few mosquitoes. I say the more hummers the better and that means less mosquitoes!
 |
| These little creatures are brave and fearless ISO 800 ~ 200mm ~ f/5.6 ~ S1000 ~ Nikon D200 |
I hope that you enjoy some of the photos that I have taken of the hummers. For me it takes some patience to get decent ones, and I have seen some much better than these taken with an iPhone! I shoot manual, use a tripod and a wireless cable release. The more recent models of cameras will show less grain at higher ISOs. I have had the D200 for about 10 years. That technology has been around for a while and has been surpassed by much better technology, but hey, this camera is paid for. 😉 (I have included some exif info in these photos.) These guys are fast. As you can see in the above photo, a shutter speed of 1000 is not fast enough to freeze the movement when they are zipping by.
 |
| My hummers prefer for me to keep a distance when I have a camera in hand. ISO1100 ~ 200mm ~ f/4.5 ~ S250 ~ Nikon D200 |
Another reason for me to use the D200 is because it has a smaller sensor that gives me more reach with the zoom lens that I used. Hummers do not love for me to get too close with the camera and they certainly do not love the tripod up close and personal. Once I got my camera all set up, I even covered it with a red bandanna, which seemed to make them less shy.
A shutter speed of 250 is too slow for photographing hummingbirds. You can see a good deal of movement in their wings, tails, etc. I did not love the photos where I had my aperture wide open as I lost all depth in the birds image. So in using the D200 I sacrificed ISO and shutter speed in order to get more reach with the lens. The bird in the images above and below are sharp (in the head & body) because of the their decreased speed as they approach the feeders. Still, a lot of fun to observe and photograph.
 |
| Always use sugar water in your hummingbird feeders ISO1100 ~ 200mm ~ f/4.5 ~ S250 ~ Nikon D200 |
Hummingbird Food
God provides nectar in our colorful flowers planted and self sowed in our landscape. He also provides plenty of bugs like... mosquitoes. One way to attract Hummingbirds to your yard is by keeping 1 or more (I have 7) feeders in your yard filled with sugar water. Red & yellow are colors that attract them as most of the flowers with the sweet nectar that they love are red & yellow. However, you do not need to add any food coloring to the sugar water. The color in the feeder is all you need to attract them. Commercial hummingbird foods & mixes are usually full of preservatives and dyes. Not healthy for our little guys. So you will not want to use them. I use a sugar/water mixture that I make up myself using pure cane sugar. It gives my nectar an amber color and the hummers seem to love it! Because there are no preservatives or chemicals in the sugar water, I do have to clean the feeders and refill them every few days. I start out with just a little in each feeder, then increase the amount as the summer goes on. Usually during the fall migratory season I am filling them up and refilling a 2-3 days.
Hummingbird Food Recipe
I use the standard recipe that has been around for as long as I can remember:
- 1 Cup Sugar (I use pure cane or raw sugar)
- 2 Cups of Boiling Water
- 2 Cups of Iced Water
Remember to change out the food every 2-3 days. The sugar water will get cloudy, fermented... And then you will have drunk or sick hummers flying around. LOL! Well, sick hummers are not funny.
I will miss them over the next few months. If you live south of the equator, they should be showing up at your feeders. Enjoy them as they are a blessing from God and one of those...
Little Things in Life!
Hugs,
Missy
