Hummingbird Photos to Share with you.
PeggyTX
Posts: 556
I know, due to weather, the UK and Europe don't get hummingbirds. But they are such fascinating, beautiful little speed demons, I just had to share some recent photos I was FINALLY able to capture in my back garden. I don't hang a 'nectar feeder' anymore as it causes ant issues. But I do plant Turk's Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii), when they love just as much, I have discovered at this house. Never planted this shrub before, but I am doing so now! I've never even SEEN a male of this species sporting his pretty fuchsia neck feathers, but see females (solid green) daily feeding on these curiously-shaped blooms.
Females are extremely possessive of their food sources and chase away all other hummers who approach the plant at the same time. I kiddingly tell my (military historian) husband who taught World History 32 years, "The 'Turk's Cap Wars' are in full swing again" so he'll come watch. I've never spotted one of their tiny nests, but have my suspicions which of the 30-40' oak & elm trees in my side garden they have built their nest in.
Their bodies are only 14cm-21cm long and they fly as fast as a bolt of lightning. Amazing little creatures! So let me share the photos I feel lucky to have captured. Sorry they're not closer, but this is as much as my lens will zoom in from my vantage point. If I'd moved closer, she'd have been gone in the blink of an eye!
I plan to add a couple more of these attracting plants to my garden next season, as they are Texas summer heat and drought hardy, die back in winter, returning the following Spring off root mass. Since they are native plalnts, no fertilizer or care demands at all. I have a couple of the peach-colored Turk's Cap bushes in my back garden, but those don't seem to attract the 'hummers'. Not sure why.
Females are extremely possessive of their food sources and chase away all other hummers who approach the plant at the same time. I kiddingly tell my (military historian) husband who taught World History 32 years, "The 'Turk's Cap Wars' are in full swing again" so he'll come watch. I've never spotted one of their tiny nests, but have my suspicions which of the 30-40' oak & elm trees in my side garden they have built their nest in.
Their bodies are only 14cm-21cm long and they fly as fast as a bolt of lightning. Amazing little creatures! So let me share the photos I feel lucky to have captured. Sorry they're not closer, but this is as much as my lens will zoom in from my vantage point. If I'd moved closer, she'd have been gone in the blink of an eye!
I plan to add a couple more of these attracting plants to my garden next season, as they are Texas summer heat and drought hardy, die back in winter, returning the following Spring off root mass. Since they are native plalnts, no fertilizer or care demands at all. I have a couple of the peach-colored Turk's Cap bushes in my back garden, but those don't seem to attract the 'hummers'. Not sure why.
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ps thanks for sharing 😀
If I was smart, I'd just stand around in the front and back gardens WAITING for them, as they WILL come, but mosquitoes are just too bad this year in Texas. Wettest Spring I can ever remember actually. Can't complain though, as we need all the water we can get. Hummers will start migrating south in another month, so I'm enjoying them while it lasts.
I love watching the birds in my garden and spend a fortune on seeds etc but we don't get anything as exotic as that!
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