Hummingbirds and the ‘almost photo’ – when you don’t get what you want, you get better

Hummingbirds in Las Vegas, like everything else in Las Vegas, live in the fast track. Getting pictures of them with a slower camera is a real challenge. (Or maybe I just don’t know what I am doing!) Too many times I almost get the picture I was aiming for. Usually what I end up with is a picture of my feeder.

Then there are the times I end up with something that I couldn’t have gotten with my camera equipment if I had set out to get that particular shot. It’s all serendipity, when you are looking for one thing and find something totally different and frequently better.

Photo taken with my iPad

The first time I had that happen I was aiming to get a shot at a second hummer coming to the feeder. I thought it might be possible to get a picture of the hummer already at the feeder chasing him away. Well, it didn’t happen that way. What I got was a shot of a hummer coming in for a landing. Much better than what I was looking for.

The next time I was trying for a picture of a hummer feeding at the north side feeder. This feeder, unfortunately for me, backs against a bush. The Costa’s hummingbird likes it because it gives him a place to sit and defend his feeder. I’m okay with it because it doesn’t interfere with my view of the feeder from my computer room window. My camera doesn’t like it at all. It wants to focus on the bush, not the bird.

I was waiting for the camera to realize the bird was the center of the picture. Finally I decided I had to get the picture no matter what or I’d miss it completely. I did miss it, or at least I missed the picture of the feeding bird. What I got was the hummingbird taking off from the feeder, out of focus, but still a bit of serendipity.

The third bit of good fortune happened at the ‘flying saucer’ feeder. As a whole, the hummingbirds do not like this feeder. Only once in a great while will one stop to take a drink of sweet water. The Costa’s likes to use it as a perch. He can sit there; close to and above the other feeder. That is where he sits and preens and generally looks around at the world. The birds that really use this feeder are the House finches. This is where they like to come for a drink of water out of the ant moat. Just last evening I was photographing one that was taking multiple sips of water. I was trying to get a picture of her scooping up water from the moat, instead the delay in the camera kept giving me pictures of her lifting her head to let the water slide down her throat. I kept trying, but they kept turning into almost photos. The last almost photo was a great demonstration of pure luck.

This picture shows the finch at take off. Looking at the photo you can see that she is jumping up into the air before she actually brings her wings into play. What an almost photo!