Any bird photographer who thinks they’re skilled at tracking birds in flight should attempt to photograph hummingbird aerial combat. It’s a humbling experience.
This is one of the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds I photographed two days ago in the mountains of the west desert as they were feeding on and fighting over a flowering currant bush. The bird was resting on another nearby bush.
As I looked at it through my lens I was marveling at all the colors I was seeing. Depending on where you draw the line between one color and another I count over a dozen different colors on this bird and many of them are luminescent. It’s no wonder that hummingbirds are often referred to as the “jewels of the bird world”. In fact several species are named after precious jewels.
As I was watching the bird I noticed an unexpected flurry of activity at the upper left corner of my viewfinder and realized that another hummer had come in to challenge it.
So I quickly attempted to focus on the intruder.
A different crop of the previous image reveals how close they were. And they were about to get closer.
The intruder stuck its tail right in the other bird’s face, so close that it appears they might be touching. The rude affront was a little too much for the perched bird so…
it took off from its perch to meet the challenge.
This is the last shot I was able to get as the intruder assumed a defensive posture to meet the oncoming bird.
Hummingbird fights can be very serious business, even deadly. Experienced New Mexico wild bird rehabber Mikal Deese made the following comment on yesterday’s post about the results of a Black-chinned Hummingbird fight. The comment was made late and I’m sure many readers never saw it so I’m including it here.
- “Last year some caring people brought me a male Black-chinned for rehabilitation. They had watched as it fought with another of the same. Suddenly one went spiraling down, just like a fighter pilot in flames. Poor guy was bleeding from a piercing head injury, and died a few hours later. I had no idea they would or could murder a rival. True, cross my heart!”
When I read that all I could think of was… Wow!
Ron
PS – In response to Dick Harlow’s question below my image techs for these shots were 1/1250 – 2500, f/6.3, ISO 800. My relatively slow shutter speeds explain why I had wing motion blur.
Ron,
Beautiful and really interesting. I find hummers very difficult to photograph because they are so fast. You did well at your shutter speeds and to catch this in the wild I think is amazing!
Stephen
What an incredible series!!! Love how you captured not only the action , but the iridescence!!! That is so tough to paint. A swallowtailed Butterfly and a hummingbird had a stand off over our verbenas…the butterfly won!!!
“the butterfly won”
With critters you just never know! Thank you, Patty.
Stunning. That first shot is amazing on my big screen! 😀
I can thank the bird for that, Arwen.
Oh my goodness! These are stunners. I never thought of hummingbirds as being this vicious. Talk about a “Napoleon Complex!”
Kudos to you for capturing the action. (I do like the term “sprayin’ and prayin’.”)
Thank you, Marty. I like the phrase too even though I’m not a prayin’ kinda guy…
I won’t ask how many shots it took to capture these action scenes. Must be a lot of testosterone packed in such small packages. Remarkable that you caught these behaviors in real time. I observe them and just see a lot of chaotic posturing.
I don’t know for sure how many but it was a bunch, Lyle. I just laid on my shutter button and figuratively crossed my fingers. Some call it “sprayin’ and prayin'”.
What a challenging series Ron. Great work on a very difficult task. I really like the first non-combat photo because it shows so beautifully all the colors that the bird has to display. When you are watching any of the hummingbirds who are always so active you know they are colorful, but your eyes don’t really pick up all the colors shown in this photo.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
As you know that’s part of the magic of bird photography, Everett. A photo can reveal so many things that our eyes miss.
Thanks for the collection Ron, good on ya for continuing to challenge yourself. Can you comment on the camera settings you were using? Specifically were you using your standard Aperture priority setting or something else? Have you ever been successful in not getting blurred wings or are they just that fast?
Thanks in advance
Ron, I just added my image techs at the end of this post in response to a question from Dick Harlow. Yes, I was using aperture priority. I often get their wings sharp in flight but depending on where the wings are in their beat cycle it usually takes a SS in the range of 1/3200 to 1/5000.
Sensational series Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Spectacular series, Ron! Thanks again for documenting such interesting behavior. I knew they were fiesty, but never thought they could kill a rival. Wow!
Diane, Friend Jim DeWitt made the following comment on this post on Facebook. I agree with what he said (with the possible exception of fanatically religious Republicans…)
“There’s more belligerence packed in to every gram of hummingbird than any other critter on the planet”.
Love these images, hummingbirds flying let alone fighting, are extremely difficult to capture well or correctly (dependent on your point of view) and my hats off to you Ron! Haven’t had any luck in that regard, but I’m still trying with our Ruby-throats. Still waiting for the butterflies to show – its been a cool/cold and rainy spring here in Vermont!
I know you probably didn’t have time to put it down, but what was your shutter speed on these images? As fast as your camera would allow? Just curious.
I always have time for you, Dick! See my postscript at the end of my post, which I added in response to your question.
Oh Yippee!! More Hummers – just finished posting on your blog from yesterday that I was late seeing & now I’m viewing more Hummer beauties thru the eye of your camera – unbelievable!! The dramatic encounter between these two must have been memorizing to watch, Ron!! Wow this is a great “Jewel” Day to start my morning!!
Thanks, Jo Ann. I don’t post the same species two days in a row very often but this time I made an exception. I’m glad you enjoyed both posts.
WOW! On all counts! 🙂 They are a challenge in flight even without a fight going on and had not occurred to me there could be fatal injuries involved…. 🙁 #5 does look like it could have been nasty had that beak connected… The last shot reminds me of raptors fighting with “talons out”….. 😉 Tied up yesterday replacing a starter on a pickup tho did glance at the post fairly early. We get a couple of hummers in the fall on their way back S sometimes – enchanting birds they are! 🙂
I hadn’t considered the possibility of fatal injuries either, Judy. But when I think about it I don’t know how it could sometimes be avoided.
I remember swapping out vehicle starters years ago on the farm. For me skinned knuckles and swearing a blue streak were always part of the process.
My Dad always said “anyone who designs vehicle engines ought to have to work on them for about 5 years first!” with a few expletives thrown in…… 😉
I’m sure I’d have liked your dad…