hungry hummingbird

hungry hummingbird, originally uploaded by pr9000.

Sometimes, when you're taking pictures, you're so myopically focused on the subject at hand -- in this case, hummingbirds that have found our backyard feeder -- that you fail to see what's actually going on in the frame.

The backstory: Amina had been doing some research earlier on the laptop, because she was intrigued by the hummingbirds' behavior of chasing away other hummingbirds who came around hungry. Turns out they are very territorial, which would explain what I saw a few minutes later ...

As I sat on the deck, trying to blend into the vinyl siding and shoo away the dozens of bees buzzing this time of year, I had one eye in the viewfinder, and the other scanning the horizon, as these little guys are fast -- they come and go with such speed that you can literally blink and miss them.

So I got the shot (the rest of my photostream is here) and came inside to throw them into Aperture. I have a good view of the feeder from my seat; as I was cropping and color-correcting, I noticed something: A bee was eating from the feeder, and as the hummingbird approached, the bee chased off the hummingbird! This happened about three times before the bee left, and the hummingbird was then able to eat.

I wasn't looking, so I didn't see it, but I'm sure it was happening the whole time.

I think nature photographers go through this all the time. Patience and the ability to see with both eyes are critically important. Maybe I'll build a duck blind on the deck, if Amina will let me, and hang out all day tomorrow. :)