Summer is hummingbird season — hurry up!

[Steve Foss]

Well, if ya gotta blame it on someone, blame it on Jonny Redhorse for posting those images of blue flag iris over on the photo sharing board. Got me all het up waiting for the first hummers in May. Thanks, Jonny!

This is my favorite from last summer

[polarsusd81]

Beautiful shot Steve. How far away were you when you shot that image? I am really looking forward to the Hummers too. I doubt I will have many at my place this year, but I am going to try. I just bought the house last October and the people that lived here before were not quite into birds or landscaping really from the looks of the yard.

Do you have any tips on what plants/flowers to plant to get the most Hummers and Butterflies? I am planning to get a couple different hummer feeders, but I would much prefer them to use a natural source.

This is my favorite, its from two years ago. The battle for supremecy.

170mm @ f5.6 and 1/200 sec.

[Steve Foss]

I was two inches farther away than the minimum focus distance of the 100-400. Roughly five-six feet. No blind. Hummers often don't care if you stand right out there in front of God and everybody. I've leaned against a post holding a hummer feeder and had hummers drinking a foot away from me. That boldness is a good deal for photographers.

There are a large number of excellent flowers/vines for butterflies and hummers. Red is the color commonly associated with hummers, but any tubular type flower draws them. Trumpet honeysuckle, hosta, bee-balm all are nice, and literally any flower will draw butterflies.

But do a google search for that stuff and you'll find all you could hope for.

Meanwhile, set up nectar feeders, and put one or two perches a few feet away from those feeders, making sure that morning and/or evening light drenches those perches. And also make sure the background is natural and pretty far away, so it will be rendered nicely buttery.

In the hummer image I posted here, the background was a shaded blooming lilac hedge about 30 feet behind the perch, and the colors and bokeh reflect that placement. Nice dark greens and violets, with the bird and perch in full sun. You should avoid setting perches in shade with sunny backgrounds.

[jonny_redhorse]