I hope you hummer experts chime in to help explain this photo sequence I captured Sunday past.
These hummers were actively engaged with their daily game of protecting territory when this occurred. The top bird is an immature male who has decided this feeder belongs to him and he wards off any intruder. I do not know the sex of the inverted bird.
These six images represent 75 sequential frames I took using a continuous 5 second burst shooting at 15fps before my buffer filled. By then, the action was over.
Thinking the inverted bird may have possibly been stunned by impacting a nearby window, I waited a minute or so then approached the feeder to see if I could somehow assist as it looked as if it would fall to the ground. To my surprise, it immediately flew away seemingly unharmed.
Only upon examining the images did I notice the claw grip of the top bird in the initial frames. Therefore, I am still uncertain what I witnessed. Research suggests that hummers will occasionally kill each other during a fierce fight for dominance. Was that what happened, or was the top bird attempting to somehow help the other?
I look forward to hearing your inputs.
Bubba
Excellent action sequence, Bubba! I have no explanation why it happened.
Mikey69 wrote:
very nice and unusual
Thank you, Mickey69. It certainly was not something seen every day.
Bubba
UTMike wrote:
Excellent action sequence, Bubba! I have no explanation why it happened.
Thank, Mike. Nor do I. I have shot hummers for several years but have never witnessed something like this.
Bubba
Wow, great shots! I've never seen hummingbirds behave like that.
High Quality
They seem to know each other
Excellent shots! Never has this behavior been seen at my feeders. There is lots of warding off others but never anything like this...amazing!
Thanks, Joe. It was most fortuitous for me.
Bubba
CCPhotoist wrote:
Wow, great shots! I've never seen hummingbirds behave like that.
Thanks, CCPhotoist. Nor had I.
Bubba
Iron Sight wrote:
High Quality
They seem to know each other
Thanks, Iron Sight. I would agree with that comment. I am fairly confident these birds had confronted each other before. But I still am unsure what happened on this occasion.
Bubba
tiphareth51 wrote:
Excellent shots! Never has this behavior been seen at my feeders. There is lots of warding off others but never anything like this...amazing!
Thanks, tiphareth51. Unfortunately, I think I was looking through the lens when they came in. Therefore, I did not see them approaching the feeder, so cannot say what transpired immediately prior to this sequence.
Bubba
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