I observed three hummingbirds outside my dorm bravely (because I was not far away) getting nectar from a bush. After watching them a while, I decided I wanted to have a hummingbird feeder, and the easiest and cheapest way to do that was to make one. |
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| I used this website for the basic structure, although instead of their recommended salad dressing lid I used the lower part of an applesauce container. |  |
| I made the flowers from red plastic cups (plenty to be found on a college campus, but I got some unused ones), and covered the bottle in a yellow plastic bag. The handle of the bag is near the base of the feeder, so I can see in this 'window' and determine if it needs refilling. |  |
Please keep on going to see a selection of the photos I've taken of Anna's hummingbirds at my feeder.
The birds took a while to start coming, but now they are around every day. Click any picture of the birds to see a close-up.
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I've got some pretty neat photos of them with the feeder. You can see more pictures at my picasa site, here.
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I noticed that there are three birds (at least) who come to the feeder. One is this green female. They are all Anna's Hummingbirds.
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Here she is again.
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This female doesn't like it when I watch her, so she is always checking me out when I make a sudden movement.
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Here she is again, looking at me.
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This is another bird -- i believe it is an adolescent male, because it has some pink spots on it's head and throat.
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I was surprised at first that they knew how to feed from the feeder, since it doesn't look too much like a plant. I suppose the bright colors and their curiosity combined for this success.
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They really are amazing birds!
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Hummingbirds are very territorial -- here are two going at it.
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How graceful! This was a really, really fast shutter speed shot. (I was shooting between 1/800 and 1/1600 s for most of these pictures, with a wide aperture to make up the difference.
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Umbledumbledum.
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This is the pink-headed male -- his head only looks pink from some directions.
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He is really, really pretty.
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So pretty that I put up several pictures of the same general time.
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Wow.
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What an awesome bird.
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Here, he stops worrying about me and goes back to feeding.
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He, the pink-headed one, came back a bit later for some more.
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He is so very photogenic!
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Here is the either the same green female or a fourth bird. This one looks like it is a duller green, but it is hard to tell because they look different from different directions since they are so shiny.
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That pink-headed male, in a close up. You can see his tongue!
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Another close-up of the same guy, the next afternoon. At this point I took the screen off of my window and opened the window to get better pictures. The hummingbirds were a little afraid and a little curious -- the adolescent male even buzzed around me for quite a while trying to figure out what I was doing!
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My roommate named this guy Merlin.
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Here is the adolescent male. My roommate named him Arthur.
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This is the girl, Gwenevere. They only made their tales big when they were having a little war with other birds.
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A cool angle on Merlin
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What a funny face!
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These Anna's hummingbirds all have a white spot behind their eye. It makes the eye look really cool -- like in this picture.
(I highly recommend clicking the pictures and looking at the big images!) |
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This photo (especially the large size) really shows off his tailfeathers.
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Another tail feather one. This bird is facing off with another. Those interactions were really hard to capture, because the birds move so quickly!
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Often when they aren't feeding they sit in an oak tree near my window.
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This is the adolescent male in the tree.
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Another bird flew over him and I mangaged to capture some of their interaction.
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It was the first time I had seen them open their beaks.
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So far, I've taken about 1000 hummingbird pictures. These are the best. (Good thing I didn't post them all!)
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