Splish, Splash, Taking a Bath. A Tale of Two Hummingbirds at My Garden Fountain.
Zooming in with my new Nikon 100–400mm (ƒ4–5.6) VR S lens
The screeching and dive-bombing go on all day long. “Big Red,” the dominant male Allen’s Hummingbird spends most of his time darting back and forth from his perch in the nearby orange tree to the feeder and back again to the tree, where he can keep an eye on the fountain, which he clearly believes is his, and his alone.
I happened to be at my kitchen sink when I saw a flurry of activity at the fountain. So, I grabbed my Nikon z7II and my new Nikon 100–400mm lens (which I got for Christmas) and crept out into the garden. It was a bit overcast, so I wasn’t sure how well their chins would shimmer, but it was really fun to be able to “freeze-frame” the action at the fountain. The hummingbirds normally move so fast that it’s hard to see the details.
You can tell the difference between the “big boys” and the females and juvenile males by the amount of red feathers adorning their chins and chests. Big Red is clearly adorned in his full plumage. If you look closely, you can see that he looks like he is wearing a cape, that drapes over his shoulders, of iridescent scales.
