robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

A hummingbird at the feeder only about 8-10 feet away. I was sitting in a lawn chair holding my camera thinking nice friendly thoughts, movements all slow and smooth. The hummers came and ignored me, two even used my head for a racing pylon playing "chase the birdie" over whose turn it was at the feeder. They circled my head under the brim of my hat and I felt the air from their wings on my ear.

Since I wanted the most feather detail I could get and was so close I was using my Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.
This is a fairly radical crop, even at 8-10 feet this little guy was tiny. So I went out and bought a 180 macro lens for doing this in the future.

As you can see I got good detail on the body and even the base of the wing but as you look out along the wing towards the tip the wing is moving faster to make its arc so that even 1/3200 SS wasn't high enough. Remember those great hummer images Davethehiker got using high speed flash to freeze the movement? (Hi Dave) This Anna's Hummingbird the consensus is the wing tips move at least 60mph when hovering. They can hit at least 50mph in straight flight which in terms of body lengths if you scaled them up to the size of a jet fighter the Anna's would be moving faster. And when diving and pulling up to show off during courtship the males go even faster and can hit at least 9 Gs when pulling up at the bottom of the dive. The pull up is so fast that the air through the feathers of their fanned out tail makes a short, sharp chirping sound.

Canon 7DII, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens, 1/3200 @ f/4.5, ISO-400
8-10 feet, hand held sitting in a lawn chair on a bright sunny day at aprx 3:21 PM with afternoon light from behind me

Surprisingly a lot of the info on speed I found on line was by UK Ornithologists working at campuses of the UC system. They don't have hummingbirds in Europe so to study these little speed demons they have to come work here.

(Download)

tcthome Loc: NJ

Crank up th SS & see what you get! Nice photo, even with the blurred wings.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

The wings move at about 4000 beats a minute. To properly "stop" the wings, it takes an 1/8000 or better shutter speed (most camera's max mechanical shutter speed) or a flash with a duration of 1/10,000 or less. They are some of the neatest birds that I know of and are fearless. For some of the species, their migration flight of approximately 1500 non-stop miles is impressive. How something that small can fly for nearly two days from point "A" to point "B" is beyond me.

I just found our hummingbird feeders. I don't know if starting this late how many hummers we will get, but I will put them out in hopes of a chance of a shot as good as yours. Great shooting.

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

Robert, this is a super shot. Definitely one of the best hummingbird shots I've seen. I love and prefer the wings showing movement otherwise it looks like the bird is hanging in mid air. IMO this picture is perfect.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

so far no hummers came close when I have the camera set for 1/4000. Thanks

Bill_de Loc: US

Sounds like a nice spring day!

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robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The Anna's do about 3000 beats a minute at top speed though the males can outdo that for a few seconds during courtship.
I read somewhere that Ruby Throated and I think it was the Rufous males can hit 200 beats a second (12000 per minute) during bursts in courtship displays (those bursts are only a second or two long. But another authority says the fastest recorded was 80 beats per second but didn't say if that was level flight or some courtship maneuver.

The Rufous Hummingbirds that breed in SE Alaska cover over 3900 miles to SW Mexico to winter. But their route is over land so they can rest, feed etc. along the way. Some of them start south in July. The lazier Rufous Hummingbirds breed in Oregon and only have about half that far to migrate.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Thanks very much.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

It was a very nice day. And I just noticed day is coming to an end, I need to refill my feeders before I have to do it by flashlight.

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

nospambob Loc: Edmond, Oklahoma

Great shot, nice story

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

A Fantastic image!! Especially with the wing blur

jimvanells Loc: Augusta, GA

To stop the wings of a hummingbird you need to be at 1/8,000 of a second.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Great capture, Robert.

Susan yamakawa

Great catch 👍👋🏻😊