Spring Time Means Hummingbirds

Rufous Hummingbird and Red Flowering Currant

The other day I discovered a patch of red flowering currant in the village where I live. It's a bush that grows wild in the springtime here. The hummingbirds love it...they have a thing for red tubular flowers, so it fits the bill (so to speak) perfectly for them.

Flying Hummingbird in Spring

The hummingbirds have been coming to our feeders regularly since mid-March. I had a little photo shoot with one the other day...he was quite brave and let me get close. In fact, I'm pretty sure this is the same bird that landed on the hummingbird feeder as I was about to hang it up after refilling it with nectar. He sat down and drank his fill as I held the feeder out at arm's-length. It was a thrill!

Sitting Hummingbird

hummingbird and flowers art

Time for Texture!

I've always been a fan of using textures to create a mood or add a more painterly appeal to a photograph. Maybe it's because I come from a family of painters (grandmother, father, sister and brother), but I like to blur the lines between photography and painting.

Baby Hummingbird on Nest

I've added textures various ways. Sometimes I add an actual painting I've done; sometimes I paint a texture digitally (in Photoshop); sometimes I photograph a texture (like bark, for instance), and add it to the photograph; and sometimes I buy textures.

Baby Duck in Tall Grass 

Recently I decided to do a series of bird images using textures. I often add many textures to a photograph and play around with the blending modes in Photoshop.

Finch Singing in an Apple Tree

Great Blue Herons Fight

Chickadee in Winter

I like to add inspirational sayings to my photographs occasionally. For the robin photograph I also added a diamond pattern, and I was going for a vintage look.

 Robin on a Cookie Jar

Small Tropical Bird on a Palm Tree

So that's a look at some of my latest images using textures. I encourage you to give it a whirl yourself!

textured birds art

The Hummingbirds Are Back!

We have two kinds of hummingbirds here on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. The Anna's hummingbird stays for the winter but the rufous hummer winters in Mexico and returns mid-March to April. I rarely see the Anna's but we've had some busy little rufous hummingbirds buzzing around here for weeks now.

Rufous hummingbirds seem to be particularly territorial and will often do their best to keep other hummers from using "their" feeder. You can hear the angry buzz of the male rufous's wings (but interestingly, you don't really hear the female's wings), and if he's particularly upset with you he'll tell you off with a "chee chee chee chee" sound. The males are also experts at dive-bombing when they're really ticked off...they fly very high then hurtle downwards, of course topping it off with a "chee chee chee chee!"

The wild red-flowering currant bushes bloom in April and the hummingbirds really love the nectar, so I've been practising getting some shots of the birds around the pink flowers.

Rufous Hummingbird and Red-Flowering Currant Bush

Hummingbird Sitting with Pink Flowers

If you click on either of the pictures or links above you'll be taken to my Zazzle shop, Fun Nature Photography, where you can customize that particular photograph and have it printed on dozens of different products. But I thought I'd show you another hummingbird photo that I took where it's already printed on a product, in this case, a mousepad.

 Hummingbird Mousepad

This colorful hummingbird photo is also available on many other products in my online shop.

I've been looking around for a rufous hummingbird nest but haven't had any luck so far. They're very small and hard to spot but I keep trying!

hummingbirds art
rufous hummingbirds art

Hummingbird in a Rain Shower

Yes, April showers bring May flowers...

 Daffodils in Spring

But did you know that hummingbirds take showers when it rains? They don't take baths like other birds do. They like to fly through spraying water to get clean. I've actually sprayed our water hose high into the air a few times in the heat of summer so that a hummingbird could take a shower...they seem to love it!

Last March our Rufous hummingbirds returned to the Sunshine Coast here in British Columbia after migrating from Mexico, where they spend the winter. After quite a mild winter, our spring has been pretty chilly so I felt sorry for the little guys. But here's a picture I took of a male rufous hummer enjoying a spring shower in the setting sun, sitting on a branch of our oceanspray bush. He looks content, doesn't he?

Rufous Hummingbird in Rain Shower

Just to let you know, Zazzle is having a 15% off sale on all products in honor of Mother's Day. The sale ends on Wednesday, May 1st. Just enter the code MAKEHERSMILE when you're checking out.

Rare Bird Sighting ~ Costa's Hummingbird

The Costa's Hummingbird is a rare sight on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia...in fact, in 40 years of record-keeping it has never been seen before. But a lone male Costa's has made an appearance in Gibsons, B.C. in none other than the former mayor's yard. Barry Janyk has played host to this gorgeous hummingbird since mid-July.

What's the big deal, you might ask? Well, this particular hummingbird breeds in California's Sonora desert and Arizona's Mojave desert. So he's a long way from home and he's decided to spend time in a coastal rainforest. Strange. Another male Costa's hummingbird has also been spotted in a Vancouver neighbourhood. At first it was believed that these two birds were one and the same however it has since been confirmed that they are two different Costa's.

Barry Janyk graciously allowed me to spend some time on his back deck photographing this tiny (3.5" long) hummer. Although small, this particular hummingbird was incredibly feisty, constantly chasing away a female Anna's hummingbird who was competing for nectar at the same feeder. He kept a fairly constant vigil so the Anna's only got in a few sips of sweet nectar.

The hummingbird had a couple of favourite perches. Here he is on just one of them.

Costa's Hummingbird

It was a rare treat to be able to see this incredible hummingbird with the violet gorget and crown. I hope more of these beauties make their way to the Sunshine Coast!

hummingbird art

Hummingbirds in Our Back Yard

The rufous hummingbirds returned from Mexico back in late March and are constant visitors to the three feeders around our house although I notice that I haven't been seeing them quite as much now that lots of flowers are blooming.

A little while ago I bought some bleeding hearts after learning that it's one of the flowers they enjoy. I set the plant close to their favourite feeder and was rewarded almost instantly when a hummingbird flew right for it.  

Hummingbird and Bleeding Hearts Flowers

By the way, I took this picture and the next one with my new external flash. I photograph hummingbirds using natural light if it's bright enough and with a flash if it's a little dimmer, although you can use a flash anytime...they're good for filling in shadows in bright sunlight when shooting outdoors.

One of the hummingbirds likes to sit atop a dried-out plant stalk and survey his domain and show off his beautiful gorget (neck feathers), not bothered that I'm standing very close by.

Rufous Hummingbird Sitting

 About a month ago I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and something caught my eye as I walked into the living room...it was a hummingbird sitting on the clothesline that runs along our back deck a few feet from the window. His beak was straight up in the air and I watched him, fascinated. I suspected that he was asleep.

Sleeping Hummingbird

He stayed like this for about half an hour. I later researched this odd behaviour and discovered that hummingbirds sleep with their neck pulled in and their beaks straight up in the air. Sometimes they even fall asleep and hang upside down...I found a couple of amusing videos on YouTube with hummingbirds hanging upside down from feeders.

I started to get a little worried about the sleeping hummingbird though because he began to twitch quite a lot. I half expected him to fall off the clothesline at any moment. A couple of chickadees came and went from the nearby bird feeder and the hummingbird still didn't awaken. However, finally a Steller's jay showed up and in the blink of an eye, the hummingbird zoomed off to some nearby bushes. I'm assuming he was o.k.!

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Attract Hummingbirds with Flowers

I've just completed my second Squidoo lens about attracting hummingbirds, and this article is specifically about how to attract hummingbirds with flowers.

The Rufous hummingbirds are buzzing around our place full-time now, the males battling it out over who has the rights to the feeders in the front and back yard as well as general territory. From what I can tell, we have at least two males and one female now.

Today I gathered some dried grass and moss that I thought they might want to use for nest-building. My next goal is to finally find a hummingbird nest with babies!

Here's a male rufous hummingbird showing off his beautiful red gorget (his neck feathers that almost look like sequins).

Male Rufous Hummingbird