![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-9498-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"broad-tailed-hummingbird-9498-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThis photo is a perfect example of why I typically fire off quick bursts of many shots of my subjects rather than just one or two.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Yesterday morning I paid another visit to the favorite perch (a vertical serviceberry stem in the mountains) of the male Broad-tailed Hummingbird that I posted a few photos of several weeks ago. He used to spend most of his time here watching for intruders and chasing them off but in the half hour+ I spent there yesterday he only showed up twice for a total of about a minute on the perch.<\/p>\n But yesterday he threw in a new twist that I appreciated. In the past he nearly always had his back to me so he could look down into the bottom of the valley in the background and watch for approaching intruders. But both times yesterday he faced to my left which gave me a nice side view and good light on most of the bird.<\/p>\n It’s frustrating because in order to get his flashy gorget to light up fully he has to be facing me directly but when he does that his eyes are mostly hidden and his bill seems to disappear when it’s pointed straight at me. This one shot out of dozens was at the perfect head angle to get most of the rose-red iridescent colors of his gorget to show and still have a good look at his eye and the side of his face. As a bonus he was performing a quick but beautiful wing and tail stretch when it happened.<\/p>\n This is why I take lots of photos of my subjects instead of just firing off one or two when I get a nice pose. I know several bird photographers who are much more cautious and discriminating with their shutter finger but typically they’d have missed this shot because it happened so fast.<\/p>\n I didn’t even know I captured this fortunate combination until I got home and looked at my photos on the big screen.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: As per usual there was a down side to the angle of this pose. I’m sure that flared tail would have been beautiful if we were seeing it more from behind but at this angle we only get a hint of what could have been. But I’ll take those gorget colors any day of the week.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This photo is a perfect example of why I typically fire off quick bursts of many shots of my subjects rather than just one or two.<\/p>\n