gerisullivan | The hummingbirds, they taunt me

Working at my desk has been slow-going for the last two days. I made the mistake of moving the hummingbird feeder in front of my office window Monday night. So instead of hearing the hummingbird buzz at the front corner of the house, but being unable to see them, I've now spent what must be hours trying to get some good pictures. At least 4 hummingbirds are feeding here. In between dive-bombing each other for access to it, that is. Yesterday afternoon, I removed the window screen after taking a few pictures through it. I even left the window open for 20 minutes or so, hoping for an ultra-clear shot, but the birds wisely darted away, and I realized the risk of one of them darting into the house was greater than the value of the picture to me.

So I position myself and my camera, zoomed just so, ready to click when a bird approaches. And I wait. Every 30 seconds or so, I zoom the camera a bit to prevent it from automatically turning itself off. And I wait. Eventually, I tire of waiting, put the camera down, and turn back to my keyboard. Within some number of minutes...maybe two, maybe 10, maybe 20...in comes a hummingbird, sometimes for a quick slurp or two, but more often for 20 seconds or more. Slurp, pull back, in for another slurp, pull back. For ten slurps, a dozen, sometimes 15. Then off it swoops and zooms, as hummingbirds do. Of course, if I reach for my camera, it zooms off immediately. Yet if I move in some other way, it usually keeps slurping.

Sometimes I figure it's been awhile since I heard the buzz, and pull out the camera in anticipation. That worked once this morning, but most of the time the shutter fired when the bird was in at the feeder (and a blur) rather than during the pull back part of the cycle, when you get the best look. Throw another half-dozen shots away, look at the light, and decide to wait until later to try again. Only they keep coming back, tempting, taunting...Here's one of the males again now. Slurp, slurp, zoom.

None of the photos come anything close to what my eye is seeing, of course. My little point'n'shoot digital isn't up to the job, and I'm not hauling out the 35mm SLR film camera. Even if I had film on hand, which I don't right now, I'm not in a position to waste a roll or two finding out if I captured even one decent picture of one of the birds. So I keep trying with my little digital, and hoping the hummingbirds are still around in a few weeks, when Jack shows up with his new Nikon D50.