Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

[Geoffrey Montagu]

I was hoping to capture an image of at least one of 4 RTHU on a particular orange wildflower, but had good opportunities only of them perched and in flight, certainly not complaining. I chose this image because it showed her with tongue out licking the air. It prompted me to do some research on how hummingbirds actually drink nectar from a flower blossom. What I discovered was simply amazing. For example, researchers have found that a hummingbird can drain about 10 drops of nectar from a flower in 100th of a second. The structure of a hummingbirds tongue, and actual process of drinking the flowers nectar would take too much time to explain here, but I would highly recommend reading about this if you don't know. C&C welcome.

D500, Sigma 150-600mm @ 600mm, 1/3200s, f 7.1, ISO 4000, HH

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[gail bisson]

Thanks for the natural history lesson!
Great perch of a suitable size for this little bird.
Nice complimentary BG.Lovely sweep of her tail and wing feathers.
I like your loose composition and am sure a slightly tighter comp would look nice as well.i would have the branch coming directly out of the LL corner with a bit off RHS.
I am on my laptop so I could be wrong with the following: crown of head looks like it could use a bit more sharpening,
Gail

[Glenn Pure]

Yes, nice work and lovely bird. I agree with the comments from Gail - notably the soft head area.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Geoff, lovely pose, and on a nice thin perch. Well timed to show the protruding tongue, and all against a smooth BG.

[Mike Poole]

Great timing with the tongue out, adds that extra interest. Another vote here for some more sharpening on the head.

Mike