Thursday, April 28, 2011

Return to Ash Canyon VII

Realizing that Ash Canyon is perhaps the best place to find and photograph Lucifer Hummingbird, I decided it give it another try. Such a gorgeous hummingbird. Only found the male -- but, that was what I was looking for. I had photographed the male before, but only on the feeders or hovering about the feeders. I wanted one in a tree. Usually they fly right to the feeder -- don't stop in a nearby tree first. So, the best shot -- what you hope -- is that they will fly up into the tree above the feeder to clean their bill and rest before moving on. That is exactly what happened (once) yesterday (during the three hours I was there). Here is the result:

Male Lucifer Hummingbird cleaning his bill after feeding

Male Lucifer Hummingbird checking everything out.

Male Lucifer Hummingbird in his "hunched posture with head thrust forward.

Many of the male hummingbirds have rather straight and neat gorgets. The Lucifer, like the Calliope and the Costa's are somewhat irregular and elongated, making them standout -- and easier to identify.

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