Photographing hummingbirds during the landing process is more difficult than one might think so of course I missed the shots of the most incredible landing I’ve ever seen, from any bird of any species.
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
Yesterday morning in the Wasatch Mountains I tried to photograph this male Broad-tailed Hummingbird many times as it was landing with very limited success but this is one of those successes. Here the bird is just touching down as evidenced by his open wings (we see only the tip of his left wing above his head) and his left foot which is still slightly above the perch. I was lucky to get this much of his gorgeous gorget lit up with that spectacular color and still have a catch light in his eye – the only times I could get his entire gorget to flash its colors the bird was looking straight at me which meant his eyes were almost completely hidden.
By watching the bird land and analyzing my photos of the process I realized that hummingbirds don’t even look at the perch as they’re landing (very different from a raptor for example). It’s almost like they have some internal computer program that calculates and remembers the location of the perch in three dimensions from earlier on in their approach and guides their stubby legs and feet to a perfect landing. And they don’t extend their feet toward the perch as they’re landing either (again, very different from a raptor) – their legs aren’t long enough to extend them even if they wanted to. And the landing process is so incredibly fast that it’s very, very difficult to photograph well.
Ok, I’m about to tell you something that you may not believe but it’s true – both Mia and I watched it happen. One time and one time only the bird actually landed on this serviceberry stem backwards! As I remember it he approached the stem, flew slightly past it on one side, and then backed into it and made a textbook landing with his back to it, without any missteps or clumsiness at all. He stuck that backwards landing perfectly! Like always it was incredibly fast and for both Mia and me it was a jaw-dropper to watch.
In the last few days I’ve taken several thousand photos of this male on or near the serviceberry stem (it’s his favorite perch) but I’ve had a lot on my plate lately and haven’t even been able to review all of them, much less finish my image culling.
But I’m sure I’ll post more of them sometime in the near future.
Ron
It has a built-in GPS and a supercomputer in that tiny brain! I really have trouble getting the few Ruby-throats we see during the winter to flash their gorgets.
That’s amazing landing backwards. Beautiful shot!
Thank you, Jean.
Wow! Very cool! Who knew?!
Thanks, Shelley. I sure didn’t.
Absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful and a precision machine. Jealous thoughts – and gratitude you shared some of the wonder.
Thanks, EC. I keep forgetting you don’t have hummers in Oz.
Sometimes I miss backing up into my chair squarely. The skills and intelligence of other species never cease to amaze.
Good point, Lyle. I’ve done that a time or two myself…
A big YES on both counts. Superior species. Us? Pfft.
Love seeing that brightly lit up gorget!😎 Beautiful! I noticed the left wingtip right off. Gives him sort of a unicorn appearance, which makes sense to me as I’ve always thought of hummingbirds as somewhat fanciful creatures. Your description of his no-look landing is supporting evidence for sure!
Marty, I’m glad you enjoyed my description of the backward landing. I struggled with getting the right words to accurately describe what we saw.
Beautiful photo of a beautiful bird! Enjoy combing through all those images – I’m sure there’ll be some great ones. I’m actually green with envy and wish I had that kind of back up – haven’t been out for a good photo shoot in a while.
“Enjoy combing through all those images”
Ha, I will enjoy it when I find an image I like but mostly it’ll be pain in the butt to cull that many images!
These are amazing creatures. Beside being very fast flyers can you imagine how sharp their eye site is and how fast their brains work to analyze what they see. I think they are fascinating and the colors are enchanting. I love to watch them. Great picture.
Betty, a good friend (in a comment on this post on FB) reminded me that “Neil Degrasse Tyson thinks hummingbird brains work faster, mush faster, than other vertebrates”. I’ll bet Neil is right!
Amazed by it all…backward landing, landing on something so small and probably fragile, capture of the iridescence…the beautity of the image,…ALL of it, especially the comment…
When it comes to hummers nearly everything is amazing but that backward landing was especially memorable, Thanks, Patty.
Sensational shot and amazing info!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Wonderful photo, Ron! That must have been a thrilling morning behind the lense. Thanks again for sharing behaviors most of us will never witness!
Yes it was thrilling, interesting, educational and frustrating all at the same time. Thanks, Diane.
They are as interesting, behaviorally, as they are beautiful ! I appreciate the former info almost as much as your wonderful images–never expected to still be
learning A LOT in my old age—-thanks !
Thanks very much, Kris. Education is a good thing, no matter our age!
Hi Ron, I was driving through Ogden, UT on a 2-day road trip from Colorado Springs to Seattle the previous weekend, and I could not help but think of you and the hundreds of miles of open space that you have in your backyard, and all the wildlife at your fingertips. I did peer at each truck/trailer I passed by but didn’t see you. I’m sure you were somewhere away from the highways. All that peace & quiet while being one with nature & your subjects, the perfect setting for these spectacular photos! It was quite shocking for me to find out that sunrise was at least 1 hour earlier than on the East coast.
Elmer, those “miles of open space” are exactly why I could live nowhere but in the American West, preferably the intermountain area. Without that space I’m sure I wouldn’t enjoy bird photography so I’d have to give it up and take up knitting or something…
Beautiful Photo Ron and thanks for the information about their landing skills. They certainly are among our most interesting birds.
Thanks, Everett.
Ron,
I just love the hummers. And I do admit I feed them to attract them in my back yard. Beautiful colors. A lot of childhood memories for me with Hummingbirds: a story for anther day.
Best,
Stephen
I often put hummingbird feeders out too, Stephen. Nothing wrong with that.
The gorget is gorgeous. I’m truly fascinated by these birds.
Me too, Thanks, Arwen.
Just what I needed to start my day! Absolutely beautiful!
Rainy, cold dreary day here – a lot like June 5 1944.
Sad/horrible date in time……. 🙁
If we forget and don’t learn from history we are bound to repeat those sad and horrible parts of it!
Dick, I watched “Seize and Secure: The Battle for La Fière” on PBS last night. It’s about an incredibly intense battle for a small bridge that was fought behind the battle lines only hours before the Normandy invasion began. If that tiny bridge hadn’t been captured, secured and held the success of the entire invasion would have been very seriously threatened. Reminded me once again of Tom Brokaw’s accurate description of those folks as “The Greatest Generation”.
I agree, all of us need to remember what “The Greatest Generation” did! Lack of understanding and knowledge of history
will be a severe threat to the world and our democracy!
Incredible photo! That reverse landing must have been a sight, memorable. It’s nice to share those moments.
Those are the rewards worth waiting for! He certainly is a beauty. It is amazing how similar in appearance your Broad Tail is to our RubyThroated.
Kathy, I struggle with hummer ID, even as to species. Throw in getting both the species and the sex right and I usually strike out…
COOL! Beautiful gorget and stubby legs landing. They are SO helicopter like or, rather, helicopters are like the hummingbirds….. 😉 It is interesting that, like other birds, have a “favorite” perch at times tho certainly not always where one would like it to be! Rufus are all we get towards fall on their way south – do treasure them for their brief stop over tho. 🙂 Pretty clear so far this morning smoke wise – wonder if the Jet Stream affects the smoke besides prevailing winds?
“not always where one would like it to be”
Boy, isn’t that true! But this particular perch couldn’t be much better for the photographer so I’m delighted about that.
Thanks for the smoke report, Judy. We’ll see…