Hummingbird

I walked outside just in time to see a hummingbird leave the feeder. He left because of me of course.

So I thought maybe if I just waited very, very still that he might return to the feeder. I already had my camera in hand.

It was probably under five minutes when I saw him approach the feeder.

I wondered if I could get any kind of decent image. The light was terrible as I was in the shadow of a tree and the Sun was moving lower directly in front of me.

And these little guys are so fast. In the image his wings are obviously moving so rapidly that my camera just doesn't catch the action.

But I pointed the camera, focused as best I could, and fired the shutter and caught him mid-flight.

I was about 5 or 6 feet from the feeder although it is hard to tell that.

He was very, very easily spooked and intensely sensitive to any movement around him. So, I was practically holding my breath to not scare him off.

I was amazed that I actually had him in my view finder when he landed on the feeder and was not hovering. That's pretty rare in my experience.

He's rather a large hummingbird I think. He's very green although you can't really tell it from the picture. The lighting was just not cooperating with me.

These images were taken so quickly even though it is taking me nearly forever to tell the story. Maybe a picture is worth more than 1000 words in this case. A lot more actually but I don't really have the vocabulary to even begin to express my pleasure and feelings of awe and amazement experienced while watching this tiny, remarkable creature.

It is even more difficult to see in this final image but he is eating from one of the "petals" of the feeder. I think I've never before seen this happen.

I have watched hummingbirds feed before but it seems to me the bird never landed to feed.

By this time I was even wondering to myself if this little bird was actually a hummingbird.

About that time he took off again and any doubt was dispelled by the hovering and remarkable speed and agility. This one seems a little large for a hummingbird compared to others I've seen.

I researched it a bit. As nearly as I can tell there aren't that many known hummingbirds found in Oklahoma. Whatbird.com has an expert search program that I tried. The result was a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. That is indeed one of the four known hummingbirds to visit my state. The other three do not seem to fit.

So I think it most likely is a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird although honestly I cannot say whether or not there was any red coloring on his throat.

And thank you very much Mr. Hummingbird for visiting my feeder.