The year round hummers have names. Meet Star.
Star got the name because she is my star poser and lets me get quite close. She often sleeps with me a couple of feet away which is incredibly cute! She looks about ready to nod off now.
Yep, here she goes, snoozing the day away. I can identify with a hummer who likes her naps!
This is Flash. He strobes his intense colors at will and frequently. He tends to be a bit more hyper and dominant than laid back Star.
He would never sleep in my presence, but he loves to zoom at great velocity over the top of my head, making my hair flutter!
At the feeder he perches at the back and hides, peeking at me occasionally out of curiosity.
Piloto is Spanish for pilot.
He drinks from the feeder only while in flight, never perching.
Piloto is named for his flying ability.
He is always in super fast motion and is an expert in flying backwards.
He loves to fly about a hundred feet in the air and dive bomb down at up to 6o mph!
Darth is named for his black helmet and his cranky behavior. He will frequently dislodge Star from her perch while napping, just because he can! He is quite entertaining to watch and harmless, albeit the other hummers do find him annoying.
The spring migration will be starting any day now. Up to 40 additional hummingbirds will descend on The Holler. I will hang additional feeders to accommodate the numbers and we have nest boxes going up in the center courtyard. By mid-April The Holler will be humming!
Cheers to you from the The Holler Hummer locals~
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Absolutely amazing photos! Enjoy the rest of the week. ~ Mia
So happy you enjoyed and cheers to you!
Amazing photos Cindy
Merci beaucoup mon ami!
That will be a lot of feeders and hummers to enjoy. They are beautiful with such incredible color and detail. How many acres do you have on your property in the holler? You must have a lot of species of birds and wildlife, Cindy with all the amazing photos you take. And so professional.
You are very kind Joyce, thank you! We have just over seven acres at The Holler, but we abut a nature preserve of over a thousand acres, so you are correct, The Holler is bird centrale. We have a couple of oak groves on the property and they are full of a huge variety of birds.
Sounds like a little bit of Heaven on earth. 🙂
Well I didn’t mention the downsides! 😉 😉
Hummingbirds are flying jewels! Beautiful photos, Cindy!
They are indeed flying jewels and I love the way they can flash their colors on and off!
Gorgeous colors!
Birds have it going-on in the looks department!
hahaha oh yes you are right!
<3
wonderful..excellent ..fantastic Cindy!Wish you all the best 🙂
Awwww, so kind and so appreciated! Cheers to you~
Wow! Fantastic.
Mille grazie!
Wow! So beautiful. I don’t often see ‘hummers’ but while in Arizona this winter, there were 2 particular bushes near the condo entrance we stayed at where a few of them liked to visit regularly. 🙂
It is always fun to spot hummingbirds. They add a smile to your day!
They sure do. 🙂
<3
How fortunate to have them year round, and to get to know each one. Must be heavenly.
They are very special and are part of our lives. I would miss them terribly were I to move~
What spectacular photos, Cindy! You truly amaze me with your ability to get so “up close and personal” with these lovely birds. The best I’ve done thus far is grab a few blurred shots from behind a window!
Awww, so kind and I feel the same way about your wonderful poetry Debbie! <3
Beautifully caught. Must take a lot of patience. The best I can do here is spray paint the sparrows (naughty). 😀 😀
Cracking up, I’m gonna tell the Queen on you. I know she can punish people for messing with her swans, and The Tower Ravens, and I bet she has some statute from long ago covering sparrows! 😉 😉
I’m already booked on for a good racking. It’s a free service to HM’s subjects.
I hope she doesn’t find out I’ve been getting the old paint off using a blow lamp (wicked). 😀
Definitely the rack for you! You better run to Scotland, somewhere deep in the empty moors and hide out for life time or three!
Och aye the noo.
Although your replies to replies don’t appear in notifications. Only seen if a person returns to the post. (settings/discussion/enable threaded (nested) comments z levels deep)
😀
Correction. I meant your reply to a reply to your initial reply to a comment. My brain hurts. 😀
This is exactly what happens to my brain whenever I try to use it, which is why I so rarely do.
The Hummer portraits are gorgeous! Cindy you should make a photography book of them to sell! Your photos are awesome! Hugz Lisa and Bear
Awwww, you guys are such nice friends! Thank you~
You’ve found .. the A Team of hummingbirds! Glorious & TY Cindy!
Yes, but the A Team is going to be facing huge competition quite soon when the migrating hordes return from Central America, tired, hungry, wanting to mate, and cranky. The A Team will drop to C Squad in the face of all the belligerent competition! 😉
Whoah! I’m thinking you’ll be sharing those pics?
I can’t help myself. I’m a hummingibrd addict. I should go to a 12 step program, but I am not willing to give up my addiction.
I’m with Debbie – awed by your ability to get close and get spectacular photos.
Alison
Awww, hope life is good in San Miguel Alison~ <3
Omgosh! I love the names you gifted them and wow, the vividness is incredible! I need to be at the holler. Grin.
When ya’ coming and what kinda vittles should I fix up for ya????
Cindy, you made me smile and giggle. YOU are AWESOME! One day I will, I have to believe it, visit with you! Grinning about the vittles.
<3
Wonderful! I think I like every one of them no matter that characters they have. The are so cute!!!
You are like me. They are all loveable in everyway! <3
I’m always in awe of seeing all these species in one area …. after all, there’s only one species east of the Mississippi River. Great collection!
It seems the further south you go the more variety you get. I was blown away by the incredible beauty and variety in Central America. But essentially, if you have hummingbirds you are lucky, because they exist in a limited part of the world.
So it seems they like the western US then into Central America. Glad you’ve seen so many!
Yes, and along parts of Canada and even up to Alaska!
Wow Cindy!! I am blown away at the photos. What great captures. I love how you have named the locals too.
Can’t wait to see the tourists 😀
You know those summer people, with their second summer homes, so hoity-toity! 😉
😆
Great shots! How much was getting close and how much was big lens?
I wasn’t at full zoom, but maybe around 600mm, mostly it is getting close and using zoom, while making sure the focus is sharp.
“Wasn’t at full zoom around 600 mm.” Sheesh. You’re a bad influence. Now I’m questioning my gear – for me full zoom is the 200 end of a 80-200 lens. o_O
Laughing, my camera isn’t expensive, but it has good zoom which is what I mostly want and it does the job generally. Your photos are outstanding. I was just looking at them!
Thanks Cindy. 🙂 Just goes to show you if you’re going to spend a little extra, lenses are more important. The quality of your shots proves the wisdom of your choice.
🙂
Wow, Cindy, these photos are unbelievably detailed, revealing every feather of these spectacular birds. Thank you so much for sharing them! You could easily sell your photos to magazines like Living Bird and Audubon if you wanted to.
You are very kind Eliza and most appreciated too. People like you are why I blog~ <3
I’m serious! I get Living Bird and your photos are just as fine as any I’ve seen there. 🙂
I will look at it, and this is very nice of you Eliza, and very much appreciated too.
I love the way you have defined their personalities – and yes, I do believe they each have specfial characteristics just as we do. Beautiful shots as usual.
It took me awhile in life to realize that all animals do, they have feelings, they can pick up our feelings and intent, they are intelligent, aware, sentient, and they are just incredibly wonderful, but I know, you know, all of this! <3
What amazing captures! You have them well trained!
Eeeeeer, I think it may be the other way around! 😉
Absolutely amazing shots of these beauties Cindy! How lucky can you get? I just love their colours and the story you told. You also gave them such beautiful names. Thanks for sharing. 😀 ♥
Thank you so much more for appreciating the little buzzers! <3
Spellbinding! ミ◕ฺｖ◕ฺ彡
Grazie! ミ◕ฺｖ◕ฺ :star:
WOW! Just Great
Ulli
Merci beaucoup~
Honestly Cindy I cant believe how brilliant your work is >> This week the pink headed one is my favourite though as usual they’re all good
Awwww, you are so kind and it is so appreciated Andy. Be well my friend~
Thanks Cindy > Strange I’m off work sick today. Are you psychic as well? LOL
I think the connection we bloggers have is magical, and I know you know it too.
I love how you can capture them mid-flight with their wings flapping a mile per minute “HW”
Of all the animals I post, I know you love these little beauties the most Antionette! <3
Yes, you know me so well!
I’m looking forward to seeing many more hummer photographs in the next couple of months! Beautiful captures, here…so lovely!
🙂
Oh GOOD! Then I don’t have to feel embarrassed about posting them because I love them so! Thank you and makes me happy!
No need to feel embarrassed – you’re bringing joy to many!
😀
If it’s all right, here’s a beautiful song about hummers that I’ve loved since I was 3…I hope that you like it!
😀
Seals and Croft, knew them so well, you ROCk!
Just fabulous and captivating.
Very happy you enjoyed the little buzzing ones!
super detail, great work cindy
Thank you very much & cheers to you~
I think I would just like to sit all day and watch these charming little birds. You capture their personalities so well. Looking forward to seeing more of Humming Holler
You can go to sit and watch them and completely not notice that time has passed. Some might say this is a waste, I call it nirvana! Hope all is well with you and Jack, Pauline! <3
Certainly is Nirvana. A lovely way to “waste!” time. We are keeping well and for the first time in over 6 years all the boys and their families will be coming round to our place to have a get together. Some times it is good not to be travelling…
Sounds wonderful and enjoy you family and beautiful garden!
I can never get enough of these delightful hummers. How adorable of you to name them. They’re handsome one and all. We have a pair of females, each nesting in a different tree but the males seem more plentiful. I’ve seen the females pull on spider webs and grab plant fluff for their nests. It’s been a magical spring.
Gorgeous shots, Cindy.
The nest are amazing works of engineering aren’t they! We put up two nest boxes this year and have hummingbird fluff for the rest. I twine it on the feeder and they pull it offf to make the stays that enable their nest to stay affixed to twigs when the winds blow! They are smart to use spider web, this very tough and very flexible material.
Bird brain is a misnomer in my book. I think they are downright clever.
Finally science is starting to catch up with bird brains, scientists are now referring to some bird species as feathered primates.
Superb images Cindy.
Thank you sincerely Bob.
I like the color of Flash personally!
Isn’t he gorgeous! His full name is Jumpin Jack Flash. 😉
Great hair on Jumpin Jack Flash! 😉
How in the world did you know his full name? Did one of the other hummers tell you????????
What little beauties…..
They are indeed, and fiesty too!
They are all stunning but I fell in love with Flash and then I realized he’s a guy. Now I’m all mixed up 🙁
I know, life is so confusing, let me simplify things for you. With hummingbirds, gender doesn’t matter, especially since I cannot always differentiate it correctly, so when I am unsure about the sex, I just randomly assign it, kinda like teachers did Mexican names for me in Spanish language classes when I was growing up. Since there was no Spanish name for Cindy, I was given a different Mexican name every year. (I really hated Felicita). Hummingbirds fall in the same category as any pet. Think of dogs and cats. You can love your dog Sam and your cat Fred just as much as your parakeet Betty.
Not to mention, we are living in gender fluid days, Flash could be male biologically, but female psychologically, in which case she would probably want a name change, maybe to something like Flashette. (I do like this new name quite a lot and am wondering if changing it now would be inappropriate).
Anyhoo, Flash by any other name (or gender), like all birds and people, would surely be as sweet, and we can love them all!! <3 <3
This was like trick a comment. It elicited a treatise on gender politics! I love it. Please do this more & be well!! 😉 😉
Terrific pictures Cindy!
Danke Schoen!
It is wonderful to me that in England, in March, I can feel connected to individual hummingbirds across the other side of the world. Thanks so much.
This connection you describe is the magical essence of blogging to me. It does indeed demonstrate that we all are connected by invisible ties that bind us to each other, to the natural world, and to all her creatures. I think the humminbirds feel this connection, and animals in general may be way ahead of us in terms of silent connection and communication. It is up to us to try and catch up to them.
Thank you Hilary, for being a human who can feel this. <3
I am not tired to say you are in Paradise, Cindy! Pictures are just breathtaking!
Half a year ago I moved to the new house and the street name is Hummingbird Way. I am anxious to watch them and then I can make the conclusion if the name of the street is right. 🙂
You might want to hang out a feeder with a drop or two of red food dye in it initially to attract them to you. After they are using the feeder, you can eliminate the dye. Depending on where you live, the hummingbirds tend to arrive in mid-April. I do hope you get to experience them!
I am not sure it happens in mid-April here. Today we have snow, freezing rain, rain – nasty weather. It is going to last for tree days. Apparently, they come to us later on.
Cindy, thank you very much for the short guide to impress this lovely creatures. I’ve seen them a lot sometime ago in Travers city (Michigan). They are adorable!
Yes, okay, they will come later then. Surprises me they migrate to snowy places, like Alaska. But just consider the idea? They might come to where you are. There are just like this gift that sorta bowls you over. I so hope you do get them.
Amazing shots & color! Love it! 😍😍😍
Awwww, thanks so much!
Wonderful captures of these gorgeous birds, Cindy. 🙂
Merci beaucoup mon ami~
How wonderful to be so close to these beauties, Cindy! I’m so stunned with these photos, the clarity is amazing and the colors are gorgeous! Up to 40 additional hummingbirds will descend on The Holler, wow!!! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing your joy and beauty with us, Cindy.
I almost missed this one. 😕
Visa versa 2UX2 Amy! If I can send back to you half of the beauty you contribute, I will be lucky. <3
🙂 <3
Eres toda una especialista en fotografiar colibríes. Preciosa colección. Un abrazo amiga.<3
Muchisimas gracias amiga mia y abrazos y besos! <3
Wow. Such beautiful birds and great photos, Cindy.
So pleased you enjoyed them & cheers to you Cynthia~
Beautiful pictures and they are just so cute! Vibrant colors for days!!
Kallia
Thanks so much and the hummingbirds think you have very good taste! 😉 😉
Marvelous photography. One can look at them all day!! Simply Splendid!!!
Awwww, so pleased you are enjoying them! Thanks much~
Hi Cindy, …read this yesterday afternoon and then things went crazy in the house (as though that’s something new and different 🙂 ..), and I didn’t get a chance to say anything. I envy you with your year round hummers. I feel really lucky if we get a couple of migrants that stay close to the house. I try to keep shrubs and flowers that they like along with a feeder close by for them just to encourage them to stay. Your pics are absolutely splendid, and now that I know your secret, I can see why you can get so close to them. …hugs, Cuz !
Hugs back to you and very happy you have been able to attract some hummers considering the assistance of your very helpful kitty-kat! Enjoy and Happiest Easter to you cuz~ <3
…and a very Happy Easter fro me ‘n’ mine to you and yours, Cindy.
<3 <3
So beautiful! And I just love Star 🙂
Star is one loveable avian! <3
I very much enjoyed meeting your hummer friends, Cindy. How fantastic it must be when they are all congregated! Great post.
It is truly is incredible, especially eating dinner outdoors with them in the summertime with them whizzing around our heads! People cannot talk with their hands! 😀
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