 A female Anna's Hummingbird sitting at a breakfast buffet at 7:20 am, August 7th at Sweetwater Wetlands . . . Hummingbirds are small highly active birds with high energy demands who consume large amounts of nectar during the day. However, they also need protein which is supplied by insects. We are accustomed to seeing hummers at feeders and flowers, but they also are on the prowl for bugs . . . Above, a female Anna's sitting on a branch, which in fact, is her early morning breakfast buffet! Below a close up of the entrees . . . .  It is unclear what type of insects these are, or whether they are in a breeding habitat, or have become ensnared in a type of cobweb. Below, our subject looks up, then to the right, likely looking for flying insects. Hummingbirds will "hawk," alighting from a branch to catch an insect in flight.  Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm with 1.4x Ext. at 420 mm, 1/2000 sec., f /8.0, ISO 10,000, +1.67 EV.  In the sequence below, she looks to the left, then down, where she spots the small insects ensnared on the branch.   Mouth open, she reaches down for breakfast . . .   Above, she grabs her prey, and below, pulls it up, along with some sticky webbing. For the Photo Geeks: It was 7 am at Sweetwater Wetlands and I was walking on the south side of the eastern ponds when I spotted this Anna's perched on a branch. Hand holding my Canon R5 MkII with a 100-500mm zoom and 1.4x extender, I set a high frame rate and waited for the bird to take off, hoping for inflight photos. My shutter finger was more active than the bird, and as expected, I got dozens of perched bird photos! When I got the images home on my computer, I discovered this sequence, and was just able to make out the bugs on the branch!  Bugs in webbing, like a sticky-bun, can be a bit of a mess first thing in the morning . .  Bug and webbing free of the branch, she scarfs them down! Always careful, she closes her eyes as she catches her prey.  Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm with 1.4x Ext. at 420 mm, 1/3200 sec., f /8.0, ISO 12,800, +1.67 EV. Below, she is back to her foraging position, then looks down again.  Yup, there is more . . .  Yum yum, more goodies . . .  She snags her bugs and webbing, and in the sequence below seems to use her tongue to scarf down the insects.     More for the Photo Geeks: The sun was to my right and a bit in front of me, with an early morning milky sky in the background. The webbing and the sky are a similar grey color. Post-production I used a brush in Adobe Lightroom to increase the contrast between the webbing and the sky. I am assuming that the lighting resulted in the bird's tongue appearing white.  Above, she looks left again, then right, the decides to take off for the next stop on her early morning "cafe crawl . ."   More on Anna's Hummingbirds and Their Dietary Needs . . . Male Anna's Hummingbird at a feeder, Patagonia, Arizona, February 2, 2018.
So, if you see a hummingbird feeding, odds are 10:1 it will be at a flower or a feeder. It is also easier to spot a hummer hovering at a feeder than darting midair hawking flies! A separate study estimated that an Anna's requires 38 mg of protein a day, which can be met by consuming 38 "average flies", assuming each fly is 60% protein and 80% of the protein is utilized. Kind of like catching an occasional 'burger amid a steady diet of snow-cones! That's all for now!
It is raining on the mountain right now! Yahoo! Happy trails!
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AuthorHenry Johnson, photographer and author of this site. For more detail, see About Categories
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