Hummingbird Frenzy

Little hummingbirds have been swarming our place for the last couple of weeks and gulping down sugar water in copious quantities. It’s that time of year, when the young ones are growing fast and all of them are preparing for the winter migration to the south.

While they are feasting, I decided to try out my new eyeballs (after cataract surgery) and exercise my shutter finger. So I put the makeshift perch up once again right outside my office window. The late afternoon sun is perfect for side lighting.

I have to use some patience for the feathered tykes to land and strike an attractive pose. The birds will use the perch to watch for others flying around, so they zip their wee noggins back and forth at lightning speed. The movements are quick, so I have to be quick too! It’s difficult to get an adequate depth of field with a long lens and a fast speed with the given light levels. But you know me – I like challenges! The one below was captured while it was getting into a crouch, ready to jump off the branch a nanosecond later, to chase away another hungry diner!

After applying a multitude of settings in Photoshop and using various plug-in programs, I will probably never be able to reproduce this particular post-processing effect, LOL. So it will end up being one-of-a-kind.