The Marvelous Tale of the Surreal Fighting Bees ...

[Arthur Morris]

Marvelous Spatuletail male

This image was created at Pomacochas, Peru with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. ISO 3200. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/100 sec. at f/7.1. Three rows up from the center AF point (Manual selection)/AI Servo Expand/Shutter Button AF as framed was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was squarely on the bird’s eye. Fill flash at -2 stops with the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT with a Better Beamer on the Mongoose Integrated Flash Arm via the Canon OC-E3 Off Camera Shoe Cord (2′). FocusTune/LensAlign micro-adjustment: -1.

“It eez here,” said my guide Alex in a whisper. I looked at the perch that he said the bird would land on, but did not see any bird. I did see what looked to be two large bumblebees fighting just below the perch. I swung my lens to view the bees and was stunned. The two “bees” were actually the rackets on the bird’s two very long modified feathers. As the bird moved them about as if by magic they looked just like two fighting bumblebees. The male hummingbird’s body was impossibly tiny. When the bird flashed the feathers of its purple crown and aqua gorget it revealed its improbable beauty.

Marvelous Spatuletail, a Peruvian endemic, is a very rare bird indeed. It can be found only in a single valley in Pomacochas, Peru. Other than the fact that this species is ICUN endangered, there is not much definitive information on this species on the web. It does however, seem that there are less than 1,000 individuals. Conservation efforts include protecting habitat and planting vegetation that supply the tiny hummers with their preferred nectar.

To read the rest of the story and learn about my creating 838 images in just 17 minutes and 26 seconds, see the blog post here.

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ps: sorry to have been absent so long. I was in South America for 10 1/2 weeks. My trip began on 12 OCT just six days after I had my gall bladder out :)

[Bill Dix]

Welcome Home, Artie! What an amazing, and probably taxing, trip. I saw this one in the Blog, and it was the best of the group IMO. Congratulations on capturing such a spectacular hummer. The bird is tack sharp. Some motion blur in the rackets is a good thing (again IMHO), and probably unavoidable in any case given the light. But in a perfect world I would have liked to see them a little sharper.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful hummer, with wonderfully colored gorget and the tiniest of feet. A memory and image to treasure. Thank you for sharing, Artie.

[Colin Driscoll]

Just wow! What a thrilling experience with a great shot under difficult conditions. Good that you had a safe trip.

[Joe Subolefsky]

Beautiful bird and shot Artie. The only nit I have is what appears to be a double catchlight? I would get rid of the one at the 8 O'clock position of the eye.
Must have been one heck of a trip.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yikes, this is really cool! Those tail feathers are very special. What could have been a distracting background instead adds to the sense of habitat.

Welcome back from your trip!

[Michael Thompson]

wow, that is an insanely beautiful bird, almost looks like from fantasy place or something, great capture, sharp and beautiful colors, i am sure it was even better in real life, I want to go! thanks for sharing! ~

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Joe. I missed that and will revisit the master file.

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[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, setting, head and neck feathers and blowing rackets. Along the edge of the rackets I see a line that I would blend a little more, I don't know if they are on your RAW file. Beautiful image and bird!

[Arthur Morris]

I like the pose, setting, head and neck feathers and blowing rackets. Along the edge of the rackets I see a line that I would blend a little more, I don't know if they are on your RAW file. Beautiful image and bird!

Thanks and good catch. It is on the RAW file but was likely accentuated by the application of my NIK Color Efex Pro 25/25 recipe ... I will eliminate it when I prepare the image for next year's Nature's Best contest.

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[keith mitchell]

Arthur the finer points have all been covered all that I can add is that this is a really excellent image.

Keith.

[Alex Becker]

Really great image -- must've been something to witness!

[Robert Kimbrell]

What an amazing image you have captured here. Glad you the chance to see and photograph such a unique and rare bird. Welcome back.

[arash_hazeghi]

what an amazing bird! not sure how it can fly with the long tails and the leaf-like feathers attached to them!