Watching and Waiting for the Long Distance Voyager

I have been watching and waiting for the Rufous Hummingbirds to appear. I always have a few resident Anna's Hummingbirds that hang around all winter. But the Rufous Hummingbirds are special because they travel so far. Rufous hummingbirds are known for having the longest migration, as measured by body length, of any bird in the world! They travel close to four thousand miles making the one way trip from Mexico to Alaska. That is pretty amazing for a three inch long hummer that weighs about the same as a copper penny. The Rufous breeds farther north than any other hummingbird in North America, traveling all the way up to Alaska in the summer breeding season. Truly an amazing migration. This afternoon I watched them for about five minutes before I grabbed my tripod camera and flash. I watched them to figure out the best possible perches they were using before I photographed them. I was looking for perches that were clutter free and had a pleasing background behind them. I photographed them for about half an hour. They were happy and so was I. Here are three of my favorite images. God's love and blessings to all, chris #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

It Pays to Follow Directions

Yesterday I spotted the first Rufous Hummingbird coming to our hummingbird feeders. It was a good reminder to clean up my hummingbird feeders and get them out for the deluge of migrants that are going to be coming through. Normally I hand wash all of the feeders in mild soap and water. My brother suggested throwing them in the dishwasher. I've never done that because I was too worried of them melting and I was concerned about the harsh soap. I put the dishwasher setting to rinse only with no soap and gave it a try. After the washer ran I checked them and they were not very clean. I then tried it with no soap and put the diishwasher on the delicate cycle. Major OOOOOPS! After it ran when I checked it all of the bottle portions of the feeders had melted. All of them were distorted on the tops and about half of them had warped threads on the bottom so they couldn't attach to the feeder part on the very bottom. I managed to salvage four feeders using some tape. In putting them together I noticed the fairly bold label "NOT DISWASHER SAFE". They will hopefully hold together until my order of new feeders from First Nature comes in. I like their feeders because the wide opening makes them easier to clean. It pays to follow directions. This can be applied to everything in our lives. chris

Rainy Day Gray

I'll admit it. I'm a softy when it comes to photographing small mammals. I really like to photograph prairie dogs, pikas, rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels. Such is the case this last week when I photographed the Western Gray Squirrels coming to my bird feeder in the backyard. Often times I set up a second feeder to keep them away from where I'm photographing birds. This time I didn't care because I was enjoying photographing the squirrels. Enjoy the squirrel images. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris All of these images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm lens.The camera was supported on a ground pod on our bedroom widow sill.

Spring is on the Way

It is starting to feel as if Spring is just around the corner with migrating birds starting to return. I spotted some Western Bluebirds checking out nest boxes last week. Ducks are starting to take on their breeding colors. The Ruddy Duck males bills are starting to turn a shade of bright blue. Spring is still being held at bay as we had six inches of snow last weekend. Here are some of my favorite snowy images from Saturday as well as one of my favorite bird images from last week. God's love and blessings upon your week, chris All images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron