gonzo

W.M.DEEEZ

Little male SOB




Do you get multiple birds at your feeders? A friend who had feeders out for many years, claimed he got lots of birds together. All I get is aerial warfare.

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Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone

gonzo

No, mine don't share well either, lol. That's why I put out 14 feeders. I have fights daily, and at times you can hear them actually hit each other! Timid they are not.

neptune

Nice shots! Just curious...how fast does the shutter have to be to stop the wings?

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Holy Mudhead, mackerel! Morse Science High!
It's....disappeared!
-- Firesign Theatre

W.M.DEEEZ

I've heard them smack each other too. Last year, I got to watch the mating dance for the first time.

Have you seen it? They fly in a giant U shaped pattern. Rising up really far, and then diving toward the ground, only to head back up to the sky...they just keep repeating the pattern.


I think it's the females, and juvies that get along on the feeders. I've only seen 2 at a time, and neither were males.


Napoleonic, indeed!

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Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone

W.M.DEEEZ

Shooting outdoors is usually bright, so 1/500 or 1/1000, of a second or faster is pretty easy to achieve.

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Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone

gonzo

Take DEEEZ's advice Tuney because I cheat with this digital and use the Auto setting to do it.

gonzo

No, I haven't seen that. That's cool. I can't wait. It sounds sort of like what eagles do?

W.M.DEEEZ

From what I've seen of eagles, they soar pretty high, and plummet toward earth. In this act, I've (once) been lucky enough to see them lock feet, and summersault toward earth. Kind of looks like if you took your sneakers and tied the laces together. Then, throw them in the air so that they spin.


The hummers are a little different. If you took a piece of chalk, and wanted to make a very large, very bold U on a chalkboard, you would repeatedly retrace the shape, with very large arm movements.

These buggers do just that....it quite literally looks like they are trying to skywrite a U shape. They don't stop. I saw one repeat this silliness for about 1 1/2 minutes while the other one just hovered. I was standing about 10 feet away.


I wasn't aware of this phenomenon, until my friend told me to look for it. Your season is so different than mine. Have they mated yet? Perhaps some will still be courting.

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Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone

W.M.DEEEZ

Even on auto, a sunny day will give you the desired result. Use S setting...shutter preferred. You can set a fast speed, and the camera will choose your aperture setting.

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Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone