I had never seen a hummingbird take a bath. For that matter, I had never seen a Black-Chinned Hummingbird in my life. Yesterday this “lifer” for me gave quite the show. While a hummingbird feeder was near by, I ignored it to watch some running water. In the Texas Hill Country, the “almost desert environment” means water attracts.
It took a few seconds for my brain to register that a hummingbird was hovering above the water. Then to my delight, it repeatedly made bathing trips followed by grooming in a tree. Here is a sequence of images … in a sense … a double lifer event!
Not sure about this bird’s name … its throat looks metallic purple to me!
Black-Chinned Hummingbird Taking a Bath
Excellent sequence, your new camera along with your ability to get close to wildlife is suiting you well. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing you this summer.
Richard, once again the quality of your camera and your skill as a photographer, amazes me. What a total thrill that must have been for you. I had a similar experience a couple of months ago. A Southern Double Collared Sunbird was bathing in the irrigation spray by my friend’s roses and when I looked at the photos I realised that in the frenzy of bathing the little bird had extended his yellow pectoral tufts. I never even knew that they HAD pectoral tufts and had never seen such a thing in any book or field guide. Not just a ‘lifer’ for you, Richard but a BEAUTIFULLY PHOTOGRAPHED lifer too – Congratulations!
Fabulous as per usual Richard. Thank you for this ravishingly colored hummingbird and his/her water escapade.
Just adore hummers. Never saw one of these either. We only have ruby throated hummers in Illinois.
You won’t see that in Minnesota at this time of the year unless it’s an ice bath. Enjoy Texas and the warmth.
Those last 3 images catching the light are especially nice. Were these with your Canon SX70?
Yes! I used the SX70 for the bath photographs. I was about 15 yards away from the hummer, with perfect photographic conditions. If I remember correctly, I set the ISO 100, Exposure to 1/1250th of a second, and let the aperture be set by the camera. I was at full optical zoom (65x). The images are cropped a bit; however the increased megapixels of the SX70 allows for better quality image crops. I was not shooting RAW as this slows down the number of frames per second I am able to take. With RAW turned off I think I am at 10 frames per second. In addition, I keep auto focus set s7chmthat it does not try to refocus between every photo … that setting also slows down the camera. I like speed!