Hummingbirds – Circadianreflections Blog

Whatever Weds. This and That…

August 14, 2024August 13, 2024Posted in Astro Photography, Bird Photography, Hummingbirds, Photography, Rufous Hummingbirds, Whatever WednesdayTagged Corn Flower Leaves, Crimson Columbine, Delphinium, Lupine, Perseid Meteors, Rufous Hummingbird, Watercolor Painting, Whatever Wednesday, Wildflowers40 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Here’s some of what I’ve been up to lately starting at the beginning of the month with a birding walk up in the mountains above Lake Tahoe. The wildflowers were in bloom. Here are a couple of favorites I saw.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com
Delphinium

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com
Crimson Columbine

A beautiful view from the trail with Lupine, and Cornflower leaves in the foreground.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com
*View from the hike*

There were all sorts of juvenile birds being taught how to forage that morning. I saw Young Cassin’s Finches begging their parents for food, and the parents trying to encourage them to forage on their own, and young White-crown Sparrows foraging with their parents, but the highlight for me was the juvenile Rufous Hummingbird perched on a branch. That was a first for me.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com
*Rufous Hummingbird-immature*

On Monday I got up at 2:45AM to go on my back patio to see if I could spot and photograph any Perseid Meteors. I very nearly went back to bed as there were still clouds from the day before in the sky.

I saw 3 great fireballs streaking across the morning sky, but one was completely out of my frame. One just looks like a streak with no fire ball that was disappointing, but it has a green tail, and one was just partially in my frame. The others I photographed are pink and green. Which I think are from the Aurora Borealis that was visible here. I missed the peak of that. I slept through it.

Here are two images of Perseid Meteors I photographed.

Look how close that fireball came to being in my frame! See it left side bottom edge? There’s another meteor below center as well.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com
*Fireball just out of my frame plus another meteor*.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com
*Perseid Meteor Streaking over No. Nevada…pink and green too.*

And, I’m still painting. I just finished a big painting for me at 9×12 inches of the Le Moulin de L’Abbye in France. I used a photo from a book called Hotels de Reve en France that I picked up years ago from a Little Free Library. I’ve been sketching from this book for years, but have been afraid to actually add paint out of fear of messing it up. I drew it freehand which took me hours, because drawing is so hard for me, but I am improving! Practice really helps. Anyway, I transferred the drawing to drawing paper so if I did mess it up I could half the drawing time by tracing it. This time I was determined to add paint!

Here’s that painting.

watercolor painting

The reference photo from the book Hotels de Reve en France.

I also made the boys some little handmade sketchbooks. I hope they fill those pages up!

The weather is cooler and the smoke from the Calif. fires has cleared so I’ll be out birding later this week and getting my morning walks in outside.

This is getting long so I’ll close with I hope your week is going well.

Nikon D850\ iPhone 14Plus

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Purple

July 31, 2024Posted in birding, Birding in Nevada, Hummingbirds, Whatever WednesdayTagged Birds in Flight, Birds in the Wild, Hover, Purple, Tail Feathers, Whatever Wednesday, Wings57 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com Image

Black-chinned Hummingbird-male

Nikon D850| Nikkor 500mm PF-E

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Black-chinned Hummingbird

August 16, 2023August 15, 2023Posted in Bird Photography, Hummingbirds, PhotographyTagged Backyard Birding, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Hummingbirds, Nature, Nevada, Nikon, Video, Whatever Wednesday32 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

We’ve had two female, and one male Black-chinned Hummingbird regularly visiting my feeder. I like to think the females are mother and daughter, and the male is the father. However, all is not peaceful around the feeder oh no, they’re fighting for territorial rights! The two females have no problem drinking together, but the male has sharing issues.

When I first put the feeder up it was only the male coming by, but then a female found it, and now a second female started coming by about 2 weeks ago. I think I’ll need a second feeder soon. I’m refilling the feeder every 4-5 days.

Here’s a still one of the females on approach. She’s so tiny!

I love seeing them coming by on and off all day.

We have had #1 Grandson for an extra week which has been wonderful, but, it’s about to come to an end… really he’s going home this week-end. School starts up soon for him.

I hope your week is going well, and your week-end is wonderful.

Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 24.6.0

more to come…

Wordless Wednesday 33/52 Anna’s Hummingbird

August 16, 2017August 15, 2017Posted in Backyard Birding, Birds in Flight, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Hummingbirds, Photography, Wordless WednesdayTagged Anna's Hummingbirds, Backyard Birding, Birds in Flight, Birds of North America, Nature, Photography, Wordless Wednesday40 Comments

Anna's Hummingbird

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| SanDisk Digital Film| PS CC 2017

more to come…

Rare Leucistic Hummingbird

May 5, 2017May 5, 2017Posted in birding, Hummingbirds, Leucistic Birds, Nature Photography, Nikon, Photography, Rare Birds, Santa Cruz Arboretum, Santa Cruz CaliforniaTagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Leucistic Hummingbird, Nature Photography, Nikon, Rare Birds, Santa Cruz CA54 Comments

I had heard there was a rare white Hummingbird in Santa Cruz at UC Santa Cruz’s Arboretum last year, but didn’t see it when I was there photographing Allen’s Hummingbirds that come to winter there.

This year a friend and I went over to find the tree it had been spotted hanging out in and we found both the tree and the rare white Hummingbird straight-away.

Rare White Hummingbird

Here’s a description of Leucism, “Leucism, a developmental condition resulting in the loss of pigmentation. Unlike albino birds, which can’t produce the pigment melanin, leucistic birds produce melanin but can’t deposit it into their feathers. Albino birds also have red or pink eyes, but this hummingbird’s eyes are black, along with its bill and feet.

What makes this Hummingbird so rare is that it is almost completely white. Most leucistic birds are only partially affected, and have white patches of feathers amid colored plumage.”~Audubon.org

I spoke with a woman working at the Arboretum after my visit to find out if this is the same Leucistic Anna’s Hummingbird that was there last May and she said, “they believe it is”.

Leucistic Hummingbird

It’s so striking, and pretty isn’t it? Poor thing has some kind of infection on its bill. I asked about that too, but they haven’t captured the Hummer to do any tests on it. So, they don’t know what the infection is. She did say he’s (it’s a male) getting better and the Hummingbird is zipping around acting healthy so, they’re letting nature run its course.

Leucistic Allen's Hummingbird

It flew away from its tree a few times, and I found it in the little fountain bathing but I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo of that. Unfortunately I spooked it. I did manage a few images of it preening and cleaning its feathers afterwards though. Here’s one.

Preening Rare White Hummingbird

It was quite a treat to find this beauty so quickly, and observe it for a short while. It’s the first Leucistic bird of any kind I’ve ever seen.

I hope it returns next year and I’m lucky enough to see it again.

I hope you all have a wonderful week-end!

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Hoodman STEEL Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

The Circle of Life

March 24, 2017March 24, 2017Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Hummingbirds, Nature, Nature Photography, Nikon, Photography, Santa Clara County BirdingTagged Annas Hummingbird, Birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Circle of Life, Hummingbird Chicks, Nature, Nest, Nikon, Photography, Santa Clara County46 Comments

Here’s the post I promised on Monday here that I would be sharing this week about a birding surprise.

After sunrise, and a little birding last Saturday Gordon, myself, and another friend went to breakfast then we headed over to another part of Don Edward’s Wildlife Refuge to check out the Anna’s Hummingbird on her nest.

I had heard from a good friend that she had had her brood of two. There were indeed two chicks in the nest, and their eyes were open!

They waited for Mama to return to the nest with food! They were so quiet. I thought they would be peeping constantly, but they didn’t. They look too big for the nest already don’t they. Mom must sleep on top of the nest with them smooched down into the nest to keep them warm at night.

This nest isn’t deep in the canopy either! It’s pretty exposed.

Anna's Hummingbird Chicks eyes open

When the chicks are new their Mom will leave the nest for very short periods of time. Just a minute up to 15 minutes to find food. The chicks can’t keep warm without her so she doesn’t dare leave them alone long. Once they can regulate their own temperatures and keep warm she leaves the nest to forage for food for up to 20 minutes. This Mom would leave for 15-20 minutes, but return to do buzz or hover check several times too.

Here is the Female/Mom just returning from a food sortie.

Anna's Hummingbird Female Returns to her Brood

Two little beaks hungry and not patient anymore.

Anna's Hummingbird with Hungry Chicks

Food at last!

She eats insects and drinks nectar which she regurgitates as a liquid mixture into the open mouths of the chicks. She’s on the go constantly hunting for food and feeding the chicks every 20 minutes! The male doesn’t help at all feeding or raising the chicks. If the male does come around the Female will chase him away b/c she finds him a threat to the chicks.

Anna's Hummingbird Feeding her Chicks

These chicks are already a couple of weeks old. At 3 weeks old they will look more like Hummingbirds, and will be testing out their wings more to get ready for flight. Once they’re flying the Female will show them how to catch bugs, and drink nectar, and within a few days of that the chicks will fly away as adults never to return to the nest.

I can’t tell you how amazing this was to watch and photograph! It was gift! It’s so moving, and beautiful watching her feed the chicks and knowing how dedicated she is, and how tired she must be. These images were made on March 18, 2017

I dropped by Thursday afternoon (3/23) to see them. They were still in the nest with Mama feeding them every 20 minutes. There was quite a crowd there, and I had #1 Grandson with me. He got a kick out seeing the chicks too. I didn’t break out my camera today. I was holding #1 in my arms so he could see them, but I’m hoping I can get back over once more before they fly from the nest which may be as early as a week and a half away.

For more information about Hummingbird chicks you can visit http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/baby.php

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Digital Film| PS CC 2017

Have a wonderful week-end everyone!

More to come…

Wordless Wednesday 11/52 Anna’s Hummingbird – Female Nesting

March 15, 2017March 14, 2017Posted in Bird Photography, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Hummingbirds, Nikon, Photography, Wordless WednesdayTagged Anna's Hummingbird Female, Bird Photography, Birds in the Wild, Black Sage, California, Hummingbirds, Nesting, Nikon, Spring, Wordless Wednesday55 Comments

Anna's Hummingbird Female landing on the Nest

Anna's Hummingbird Female tongue out on nest

Anna's Hummingbird Female Feeding

Anna's Hummingbird Female

Anna Hummingbird Female on the Nest

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm @450mm| f/8| Lexar Professional Digital Film|PS CC 2017

More to come…

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