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<\/a><\/p>\nHere’s my garden not long before quitting time in the morning because that blazing hot sun is just about to slam me. And light, where there is light, is already becoming harsh.<\/p>\n
When they’re in my garden, hummers spend most of their time at my canna lilies, zinnias or nasturtiums, or resting on my tomato cages and various types of foliage. Occasionally, after I’ve hand watered a few of my plants that need extra water (my garden is mostly watered by a drip system), hummers will zip around to most any plant, flowers or not, and try to bathe on the wet leaves or even drink some of the water drops.<\/p>\n
Supposedly hummers almost never drink plain water because they get all the water they need from nectar but I’ve seen them do it, more than once.<\/p>\n
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This female was feeding at my canna lillies. As usual the light was low and dappled so the background is dark.<\/p>\n
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This was one of the few times I was able to get both the bird and the flower sharp and get the entire flower, including the leaning flower spike, in the frame without cutting anything off. So of course something had to go wrong, and it did. That subtle, horizontal, out of focus band at bottom left is one of the thick wire strands of a tomato cage in the background. It drives me nuts because it looks (and is) unnatural.<\/p>\n
I could probably clone it out but I prefer not to.<\/p>\n
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So I tried two different ways of cropping it out.<\/p>\n
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Both worked reasonably well but I still prefer version one that includes the entire flower and that annoying band.<\/p>\n
Take your pick.<\/p>\n
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As she rested on one of my tomato cages she appeared to be trying to read one of my plant tags. If the part of the tag she was looking at hadn’t been upside down, maybe she could’ve.<\/p>\n
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In the four days I was photographing in my garden I only had a decent opportunity with the male twice. Here he’d been attempting to bathe in water droplets that were still clinging to the shaded sides of my nasturtium leaves. Only one of those water droplets can be seen in this photo, near his right foot.<\/p>\n
He wasn’t close but I like the photo because to me he appears to be happy dancing on his stubby little legs.<\/p>\n
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Here the same male had been feeding on my zinnias. This is one of the very few times I’ve ever caught the gorget lit up of a male Black-chinned Hummingbird in flight. The gorget of males of this species is a brilliant, iridescent band of deep violet-purple along the lower edge of the throat. But the light angle on it has to be just right for it to show up.<\/p>\n
The various colors of my zinnias are all pretty bright and gaudy so in this photo his snazzy gorget fits right in.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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And finally, a male! (8 photos)<\/p>\n