Hummingbirds~

On By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Wild Life


I can’t believe I finally got a photo of a hummingbird’s forked tongue! I have never captured the fork at the end of the tongue because it typically springs open once a hummer inserts her tongue in a flower. But here it is, for us to see!

We have somewhere around 70 or more hummers at The Holler now, so we are getting lots of very bright color. Hummers flash their colors at will, sometimes as warnings when sparring. This guy was caught at dusk, flashing away to keep intruders at bay.


Once a year, at peak swarm, I feed the hummers by hand. I only do it once, for about an hour because I don’t want the hummers to become tame, thinking all humans can be trusted, because unfortunately, as we all know, some humans should not be trusted.
By the way, the white dust you see on this hummer’s beak is pollen.


I saw this photo that went viral awhile ago, where a woman was photographed, with a hummingbird drinking nectar out of her mouth. People loved it, but it bothered me. Did the photographer consider how tiny and wild hummingbirds are? Did he consider how easily this woman’s viral and bacterial load could kill hummingbirds? Did they think about how taming a wild hummingbird, for a photo, through nectar offering, and then withholding, might lead a migrating hummingbird to harm at the hands of humans?

Garden nectar feeder stations have brought seriously declining hummingbird populations back to healthy numbers. Handled responsibly, garden feeders are important for hummingbird population survival. But taming wild birds that migrate, to perform tricks, isn’t helping hummingbird survival.


Taking these photos is very difficult. I have a tripod, but don’t ever use it. Why have a stationary camera in a moving world? Wild animals don’t find this interesting. So, I hold the feeder with my left hand and take the photo with my right. After about 10 minutes this starts to hurt!


Thankfully my son volunteered to hold the feeder.

The Holler hummers do know us and have learned to trust us, many of them were born here. As mentioned a few stay year round and others return annually. Wherever they stay when they migrate south for the winter, they survive and thrive. Maybe they hang out in a garden in Central America where a bird lover keeps their feeders going and the hummers happy!


Cheers to you from the incredible, wild, and much-loved, Holler Hummers~

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380 thoughts on “Hummingbirds~”

  2. Wow! I love hummingbirds and so appreciated seeing their upclose beauty. I can’t even believe you got the closeup of the forked tongue! Thanks for the beauty. <3

    Reply

  3. Pingback: These truly amazing photographs are from the blog of: Cindy Knoke | Rethinking Life

  4. Cindy, this is one of the best photography posts I have ever seen as I love hummingbirds! Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your amazing photos and for all the unseen hard effort you and your son put forth to bring these amazing photographs to your blog! xoxo

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  5. Cindy, what extraordinary photos. Congratulations on the forked tongue shot. Thanks, too, for educating people. It must be really something having one so close at hand. Ours know us too, and will sometimes buzz us to let us know the feeders are low. We have seven feeders going in the summer along with what we grow. Your photos, today and always, are simply amazing.

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      1. It’s almost a compliment, isn’t it? I know you’re hear taking care of me. I just want you to know that the feeder is low. By the way, I enjoyed four different hummers at the water fountain today. They love taking a shower in the bubbler.

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  6. Incredible, Cindy. I learned a lot I never knew – including the fact that hummers had forked tongues. Thanks!
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
    ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
    “It takes a village to educate a world!”

    Reply

  7. They are beautiful! I would love to feed hummingbirds, but I have two cats who are excellent hunters. I don’t want to cause a decline in the bird population. I will just have to enjoy your photos!

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    1. Hummingbirds and cats are not a happy mix, so thank you for your caution. I only have to worry during the short preying mantis season which should soon be on us. I have to relocate the mantis from around the feeders during season.

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  8. Bravo, Cindy. Absolutely magnificent! We have a few who now show up at our two humble little feeders. They are fascinating to watch. Sometimes when we’re out on the porch, they’ll buzz past our head. I never before realized how loud they are and how much like a drone they sound! Scared me the first time one buzzed by my head! 😀

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  9. Cindy how did you know humming birds were my favorite above all. Great photos. You must live in migration path or keep the juice flowing all the time.
    Did you get the extra comments sent with videos of James Arthur? I picked special ones for you.
    Hugs
    M

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    1. I didn’t get the videos. I will look for them in spam. I wonder if he is the person who has hundreds of hummers and never leaves his house for any length of time during season to keep all the feeders going! Is that is who you are talking about, it is truly amazing!

      Reply

      1. I know how far down he was, drug addict, alcoholic, depressed and very angry at everything. Nor releasing a LP would kill some people’s career. He is bigger than he evert dreamed, he very honest in his interviews. I’m so disappointed you didn’t receive. I picked what I think are his best & sexiest video. It’s important for you to get my Montaigne. I’ll find you’re email and recreate a big drink of James Authur!
        Have a great weekend.

        Reply

  11. Wow! I’d never even know that hummers had a forked tongue! I know most in government do. 😀 Seriously, thanks Cindy, for that cool pic. You’re a hummer whisperer! (PR)

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  13. What a stunning series of images, Cindy. Their wings flap so quickly I’m amazed you managed to hold the camera steady with one hand and get such superb sharp focus. I’ve used one hand to photograph something stationery like a flower (shielding bright sunlight with the other hand), but never a bird moving.
    Well done 🙂

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  14. Wow, Cindy! I am impressed with all your different hummingbird photos. You are a truly gifted photographer as well as a “hummer whisperer.” So sweet how they trust the fingers of the one holding the bottle top full of food or fruit bits. 🕊 xo 💞

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  15. PS Thanks for your great message! Protecting the our wildlife from ourselves.
    The “white nose syndrome” is afflicting bats in the Kentucky caves. It is believed to have been from a purse or backpack. Many caves have sections closed off to the public due to bacteria we carry in or on us! Thank you and although bats aren’t as cute as hummers, they bless the areas they forage in by keeping bugs at bay. I think they are cute tho’ ! xo 💐 😊

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    1. I hadn’t heard of this bat problem, so thank you for letting me know. We do need to be sensitive to the damage our viral and bacterial loads can pose to wild creatures~

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  23. Congrats on capturing the forked tongue!  I had heard about it somewhere but had never seen a photo of it.  The whole series is spectacular, and I appreciate the thoughtful remarks about endangering wild critters by taming them for photo ops.

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  25. Enjoyed this post, Cindy, so much. That’s an incredible number of hummingbirds to The Holler, congratulations. That translates to so much nectar making and feeder maintenance, keeping the ants and bees out of the nectar, and ducking from their aerials while filling the feeders. I have seen the forked tongue exposed in air, but to get a photograph of it is astounding. And BTW, that little bitty feeder is adorable, I have never seen one. Thanks for sharing this once-a-year tradition.

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  26. My parents delight in hummingbirds, as do I!! Sometimes when I’m on their back deck, the hummingbirds come up to the plants right by us. Your photos here are incredible, Cindy <3

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  31. These pictures were amazing, I fetched the family out so we all got a look.
    I agree we do have to be so careful, in this cruel world even acts of kindness can have negative consequences. I really admire what you are doing.

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  36. These are some of the best hummingbird photos I have viewed. In some you almost froze the motion of their wings, and I know that’s very hard to do even under the best light.

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  37. It is amazing that you were able to catch the hummer’s tongue! Your photos are fabulous, as always. We were visiting our neighbors last night and remarked at how many more hummingbirds we see each year. They have a feeder, and though I have one, I haven’t put it out because of the huge numbers of flowers I have in my garden. We have several hummers at a time in my garden at any one time. We were also talking about feeding them by hand. Neither of us have done that yet.

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    1. Yes, hummingbird populations appear to have increased this year in California, due I would imagine to the ending of the drought. Hummingbirds survive mostly on gnats and fruit flies, augmented by nectar from flowers. Flowers draw them, but bugs sustain them!

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  39. Thank you so much for sharing these amazing photos of the incredibly beautiful hummers. And I can imagine your delight to have managed to get one of the forked tongue. Wonderful.

    Reply

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