Fearless Friends
by Rory Siegel
Title
Fearless Friends
Artist
Rory Siegel
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Yesterday morning I went out on the porch to take out some recycling....and it was about two hours before I made it back into the house. The reason was the most magical encounter yet with these fearless little creatures...who seem to know they have nothing to fear from me (or my dog) and zoom past me within a couple of inches of my body with increasing frequency. Lately they have taken to hovering very close to me..or kindly posing for me on the tomato cages. These are Rufous hummers and there are quite a few of them visiting on a daily basis. They even seem to be with me when I walk up the road...at least a good quarter of a mile, occasionally darting out and fluttering by me as I delight in early morning sunlight. Yesterday I grabbed my camera and enjoyed the show as they danced at the feeder, in the trees, around my Gerbera daisies...and we all just had a lovely morning! A couple of these little ones seemed very intent on cleaning themselves...or in one case scratching an itch! I believe a couple are immature because of their coloration and their feathers look fluffier to me than the others...the "grown-ups." Below is a bit of info on these magical and delightful birds.
"The feistiest hummingbird in North America. The brilliant orange male and the green-and-orange female Rufous Hummingbird are relentless attackers at flowers and feeders, going after (if not always defeating) even the large hummingbirds of the Southwest, which can be double their weight. Rufous Hummingbirds are wide-ranging, and breed farther north than any other hummingbird. Look for them in spring in California, summer in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and fall in the Rocky Mountains as they make their annual circuit of the West."
4th Place Tie in the Small Bird Art Contest, December 2013.
Uploaded
July 30th, 2013
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Comments (20)
Shannon Story
Well, Rory when we have a lot of hummers it can be a ruckus... but I typed Rufus and spellchecker inserted Ruckus. In fact when I just typed hummers it inserted gunners. Sigh.
Shannon Story
So wonderful. We had a Ruckus come to our feeder a couple of years ago. They are a rare sight here in North Texas. Only saw it once. Thankfully I got a photo of it.
Rory Siegel replied:
I am glad to hear that you got at least one! They are very prolific here to say the least...and very outgoing! It's so amazing to be able to stand within a few feet and listen to them in the trees along my road. They will just sit there and twitter to me, completely unfazed by my presence. And then sometimes they just whiz within an inch or two of my head! Thank you for your comments Shannon.
Rory Sagner
Thank you so much Barry for all your lovely comments and for taking the time to explore some of my work!
Rory Sagner
Many thanks go to Nadine and Bob for featuring "Fearless Friends" in the Artist News Group!
Rory Sagner
I know...he looks pretty fierce, lol! These little ones also gave themselves baths, and one in particular had an itch...it was quite the show...and I had never seen them do these things before either. I'd like to put together a slideshow! Thanks for your kind comments Kym!
Kym Backland
Rory, EXCELLENT CAPTURE! You really captured an expression on this Hummingbird's face! You captured and expression I haven't seen in a photo before! He looks like an airplane bomber! Mean and determined to get or buzz someone! Excellent work! I think of you often Rory.. Thanks for your visit to the raccoon picture! You are right, I don't get things done, I have to quit looking outside, otherwise I start to go to the woods and follow the little fellers.. anyways.. FV.. Have a great week! FV
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