Michael's eagle eyes spotted another hummer tonight. Michael had spotted the guy having a bath in the rain a few days ago. Tonight we were inside watching So You Think You Can Dance, and from our couch he spotted one sitting outside in the bamboo. It looked like the right shape, but when I got up to look it seemed wrong somehow. Too dark. A white spot. Kid of fluffy. We carefully stepped outside to get a closer look and realized it must be a baby! We took some photos, and he flew off briefly followed by one or two adults who buzzed us and took off. The baby hovered in confusion and then resettled on my buddleia. Cute little fella. It's good to know they can happily reproduce around our neighborhood!
Yesterday we had a brief shower after weeks of dry weather. A hummingbird had a shower and a bath on some leaves, and a baby chickadee got wet for the first time.
I have an incurable crush on -- my new camera! I got a Sony Cybershot DSC-H9. I'm having lots of fun playing with it and learning all of its tricks. I wanted to be really familiar with it before I go to Ecuador in March. I'll be going for 2 weeks to see my Mom; my sister-in-law Colleen and my nephews Ian and Julian will also be there visiting. I can't wait!
Meanwhile, I've been testing it out on Bijou, JoJo, and the birds in the backyard. Here's a straightforward one of Bijou, and a nice close-up of some bun-tocks:
The camera has a very nice movie function. My old camera would only do 30 seconds a pop, so if the action didn't happen in 30 seconds, I didn't get it. Now I can let "tape" roll until I get what I want! I've been wanting to capture a nice bun-flop, and the other night I got two that I would rate about a 5 on a 10 point Olympic scale. Not JoJo's best work, but still cute. The second one has an appropriate voice over from the PBS show I was watching, Pioneers of Television: Late Night.
Today was the first really beautiful Spring-ish day, and all three of us girls enjoyed hanging out in the back yard while I waited for photo ops. JoJo does a great job with the screen pet-door, and then after much grass munching she did a very small binky and a sprint.
I was able to use my absolutely amazing new 15x macro on my camera to capture a really nice close-up of one of "my" Anna's hummingbirds. I love this photo! My new camera has a repeater setting, where you can hold down the button and take a rapid succession of photos. I tried that with the hummer and got about 30 so-so pictures, but this one on the right was taken as a regular one-off shot. I wonder if the repeater shakes the camera a little, or if I just got really lucky with the clarity on this one.
I also took a brief video of the hummer. The videos lose clarity getting them on the web. They're really amazing my own computer!
We occasionally have a hawk visit us in the back yard. We keep an eye out for hawks, since they may find JoJo to be a tasty tidbit. This one looked a little small, and we think he may be a sharp-shinned hawk. I got a photo of his back, and then some video of him just looking around. Today I saw a mob of crows chasing him out of the neighborhood.
I am a librarian in public libraries. Outside of work I love to go dancing with my husband and play music. I play 5 string clawhammer banjo, and I have also played rhythm with Cajun bands since 1994. I love to garden and nurture plants. I love world travel, and I have been to Egypt (6 months), England (6 months), Scotland, France, Italy, Greece, Thailand, Hong Kong, Tibet, Nepal, Cambodia, Russia, Estonia, Ecuador and of course Mexico and Canada. I'd love to go to the Galapagos next. Anywhere I go, and inside the US, I love to go hiking and boating and see the real beauty of nature. I live with my husband, a cat, and a rabbit we rescued from Woodland Park. And now we have our son Zane, born 8/15/09!
Michael's eagle eyes spotted another hummer tonight. Michael had spotted the guy having a bath in the rain a few days ago. Tonight we were inside watching So You Think You Can Dance, and from our couch he spotted one sitting outside in the bamboo. It looked like the right shape, but when I got up to look it seemed wrong somehow. Too dark. A white spot. Kid of fluffy. We carefully stepped outside to get a closer look and realized it must be a baby! We took some photos, and he flew off briefly followed by one or two adults who buzzed us and took off. The baby hovered in confusion and then resettled on my buddleia. Cute little fella. It's good to know they can happily reproduce around our neighborhood!
