Today's male hummer (five pics included)

[Steve Foss]

He's perched, he's looking, he's ready to hit the nectar feeder.

Canon 20D, 100-400L IS at 400mm, iso400, 1/250 sec at f5.6 with fill flash.

[buzzsaw]

Very nice, nice bokeh as well.

[Steve Foss]

Yes, nice is just how I would describe it. Nice, but nothing great. So I waited until the sun dropped lower and headed back outside. A few minutes later, the sun bathed a 10-inch section of the branch the hummer was using for a perch, and a few seconds later he landed and decided to be a model.

Amazing the difference between the first image and the rest. What a difference a slight angle of reflected sun can make. The background is shaded lilac bushes with fading blooms, thus the gray/violet/spruce bokeh.

[floating minnow]

WOW!

[buzzsaw]

DANG, you sure know how to take great pictures! Bravo!! Light is our friend.

[Dbl]

Wow, stunning shots. I can't even recall seeing one just sitting on a perch like that. They always seem to be moving. Pat yourself on the back Steve.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, DBL.

Hummers will perch a lot, especially if you put a perch near a nectar feeder, say within about five or six feet. Many nectar feeders don't have perches incorporated with them, so that may be why hummers always seem to be hovering to feed. On mine, which has perches, they sit at least half the time, but only if they're fairly relaxed and not threatened.

Also, flowers don't come with built-in perches, and that makes the birds hover, too. Once a hummer stops flying and sits there on a branch, it can be hard to spot. No buzz for the ear, no movement for the eye to follow.

I'd noticed the hummers (or maybe it's a single male) prefer a certain spot on the bog aspen twig I'd mounted there. Before I put that up, there were a couple preferred perches in the tree next to the feeder, but I couldn't depend on where they'd land there, so out came the branch.

The perch was a bit over five feet from me, and the feeder was between me and the perch, about a foot and a half from me, while I was waiting for these shots. At one point, a hummer came in and didn't even seem bothered that the tip of my lens was a foot from him while he ate nectar. He fed for about 20 seconds before perching and modeling for me. Darn, who'd have thought I should have brought out a macro lens to be able to focus close enough.

[Tom Wilson]

Quite nice Steve, Quite nice.

[Fishbitten]

Good luck with the macro!!! i can hardly wait to see it,our hummers also perch and sit to do there prenning,we have two couples that fight all day over a favorite branch.

[Redstormy]

These are exquisite.. I don't think I've ever seen one perching.