Month: March 2010

Categories
Hummingbird Pictures

Basic Tips On Photographing Hummingbirds

Today’s post does not offer a photograph of a specific species of hummingbird, but rather offers some basic tips to help you photograph hummingbirds more successfully.   If you are like me, any advice which will help improve our efforts in this area is greatly appreciated.  With continued effort and the right advice, maybe our skill at photographing hummingbirds will improve and each of us will be lucky enough to capture a wonderful shot of a hummingbird.  So, keep taking those photos and trying to improve along the way.

It is best that there be only one feeder out while you are trying to photograph the hummingbird.  Then there will be only the one feeder at which for the hummingbird to feed while you are trying to capture your shot.  Also, you know where to aim your camera, rather then having to guess at which feeder the bird will want to feed.   

The feeder should be hung at a level that is even with the camera.  To help accomplish this, the hummingbird feeder can be hung either on a string or between two trees.

If you are trying to successfully capture a shot of a hummingbird in flight, then the hummingbird feeder should have no perches on it, because this will not allow the hummingbird a place on which to land and rest.

You can determine how you want the hummingbird to pose.  You do this by plugging all the holes in the feeder except for the one from which you want the hummingbird to feed.  You then rotate the feeder as needed to give you a better angle from which to help you capture the shot that you desire.

It is my hope that these basic tips will help you when you try to photograph hummingbirds.  After all, hummingbirds are far too beautiful to only see for a brief moment, and what better way to capture that beauty as a lasting memory then through a beautiful photograph.







Categories
Hummingbird Videos

Hummingbird in Flight.flv

 

Have you ever wondered just what makes a hummingbird’s flight so unique or just what causes them to have such bright colors?  Then this is the video for you, because you will discover the answer to these very quesstions.

Categories
Dear Mom

The Land of the Hummingbird

Hummingbirds seem to symbolize or represent many different things to many dufferent cultures.  The nation of Trinidad and Tabago is no different.  The nation of Trinidad and Tabago is referred to as "The land of the hummingbird."  You will see a hummingbrd on that nation’s coat of arms, their one cent coin and even the country’s national airline, Caribean Airlines.

The facts listed above are suprising uses of the hummingbird as a symbol that I find fascinating to discover.  I am a person who enjoys discovering a wide variety of little known facts on a wide variety of topics, particularly about hummingburds though.  This is something that my mom and I both shared and I am certain she would have enjoyed the information contained in this post and I hope you will also. 

Categories
Hummingbirds

Antillean Crested Hummingbird

  • In Antigua, the Antillean Crested Hummingbird is commonly referred to as "Doctor Bushy."
  • The Antillean Crested Hummingbird is the most common hummingbird of the islands.
  • This hummingbird species is found throughout the lesser Antillies.  They are must abuntantly found in the lowlands, but they are also known to be widespread from sea level to mountain forest.

This is a species of hummingbird that I myself had never heard of before, prior to doing some further research into the subject of hummingbirds.  Have ever heard of this species before?  If so, do you have any additional information that you would like to share about this particular species of hummingbird? Your comments are always welcome.

Categories
Dear Mom

The Gestation Period of Hummingbird Eggs

Since it is quite difficult to locate a hummingbird’s nest and therefore most of us may never see one for ourselves, I thought I would share with you some information about the hummingbird’s eggs and the length of their gestation period.

In most cases, a female hummingbird will lay two eggs. There are sometimes when the female will only lay one egg. Here is a surprising fact about the eggs, each of the two eggs will be laid on two different days, but the eggs will hatch on the same day. That is right, both eggs will hatch on the same day! How is this? The answer is because the female hummingbird will not start incubating the eggs until both of them have been laid.

The incubation period for hummingbird last usually between 16-18 days, but it can last as long as three weeks if the weather at the time is cooler then usual. The female hummingbird tries to maintain the temperature of the nest at about 96 degrees. So in general, the gestation period of hummingbird eggs is between two and three weeks, depending on the circumstances which are happening at the time.

A hummingbird eggs will be white in color and only about the size of a pea or jelly bean.

I hope you have enjoyed discovering a bit about the gestation period of hummingbird eggs. This is the type of information that I know would have fascinated my mom, and I so wish she was still living for me to be able to share it with her as well as all of you who read this blog.