![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-6585-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"broad-tailed-hummingbird-6585-ron-dudley.\\"")
<\/p>\nHummingbird feathers at the right angle and in the right light can be jaw-droppingly gorgeous. And I’m talking about far more than just the gorget.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, 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 Two days ago I found the same male Broad-tailed Hummingbird on the same serviceberry twig I’ve photographed him on many times before.<\/p>\n Here I caught him as he was turning to face a different direction on his perch. I like the pose of course but the light angle isn’t ideal for showing his plumage at its most spectacular. And his feathers are flattened against his body so we don’t see anywhere near as much detail as we can when his feathers are fluffed.<\/p>\n In addition, at this angle we’re seeing mostly ventral feathers which don’t appear to have the structural variety and complexity of many of his dorsal feathers, nor do they exhibit as much iridescence (except for the gorget of course).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, 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 But when he turned on his perch and fluffed his feathers I was gobsmacked by all the colors, layers, textures and patterns that were suddenly revealed, not to mention the additional iridescence.<\/p>\n As a biologist I’ve spent endless hours peering through microscopes so when I see something like this it’s my natural inclination to want to see even more magnified detail. In this situation a microscope wasn’t an option so I had to resort to the next best thing.<\/p>\n The photo is sharp so I cropped in as tightly as I dared.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n His feather complexity is almost overwhelming when I think of the evolutionary processes that had to come to bear to produce it. We see an amazing amount of variety in feather structure in the same tiny bird and the textures, layers, colors and patterns seem to go on forever.<\/p>\n To me this is avian eye candy at its best.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This particular hummingbird has an attitude to match the boldness of his plumage. He’s fearless in chasing off other critters that have the audacity to approach ‘his’ serviceberry bush. On the morning this photo was taken I watched him attack a chipmunk in the interior of the bush and he chased off the male MacGivillray’s Warbler that I posted yesterday<\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n He’s one badass hummer.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hummingbird feathers at the right angle and in the right light can be jaw-droppingly gorgeous. And I’m talking about far more than just the gorget.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-6572-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"broad-tailed-hummingbird-6572-ron-dudley\\"")
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