Obsessive-Compulsive

I'm obsessed with taking photos of the local wildlife, particularly birds.  So I'm going to begin posting the story behind the photos as well.  Because many photos involved me yelling, "Stop!" and maniacally bursting from the car, camera in hand, fumbling with the on-switch and zoom, tripping over rocks and poison oak, in hot pursuit of feathered subjects who are, understandably, now long gone.  I imagine the birds have become accustomed to my antics, rolling their eyes when they see me coming.  They seem to be on a mission to thwart the crazy camera lady, taunting me with their, uh, ability to fly.  Away.

I am admittedly limited by my own bumbling inexperience, not to mention my camera.  But still, it's tricky to capture the essence of living, moving, flying things, with half a second shutter-lag.  But the Panasonic Lumix does have 10X zoom, so that's pretty fun for the time being.  Our first bit of extra cash has already been earmarked for a new battery and lens for Boyfriend's Digital Rebel.  Maybe by then my skills will match the abilities of the tool.

Look, everyone - here comes the point of this post!

Hummingbirds are some of my favorite subjects - they're tiny, living, breathing jewels. They're also about 20 times zippier than your average bird, so it is a rare treat to catch them with my camera.  I usually settle for simply watching them from our screen porch.

A few weeks ago Boyfriend and I discovered a new way to interact with our little community of buzzing, aerial artists.  That particular evening, we filled our hummingbird feeder at prime feeding time. Boyfriend was swarmed by the usual crowd of 10-15 little jewels on his way out to hang it up.  So he hung out and I took this video.  In the past we've seen them hit the ground, the screens and each other as they duke it out for a place on the feeder.  Watching from the screen porch is one thing, standing in the midst is another experience entirely.

View the gallery of stills here.