A woman on a mission to photograph every species of hummingbird | Hacker News Reader

A woman on a mission to photograph every species of hummingbird

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169 pointszeech31 comments

A hummingbird builds a nest in my back trees just about every year and raises a couple hatchlings. They can be very territorial- buzzing my head as I walk by, constantly chirping at other birds. The nests are really impressive, made out of spider silk and other things the bird can collect nearby. They are very pliable and robust.

Here's a movie I captured of the nest (from a distance) https://youtu.be/Q49XETLwpxI and if you want to jump ahead to momma showing up to feed the hatchlings, https://youtu.be/Q49XETLwpxI?t=609

Wish I could find the video I made of their first flight.

Same. I put up with it because of my absolute hatred of paper wasps. I've watched them straight lance the wasps through their head and drop them dead.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now.

I love hummingbirds! In undergrad I spent a summer working on a research project that was trying to determine if hummingbirds have persistent gut microflora. The bird's metabolism is so fast that it's unclear whether any microbes have enough time to colonize. Every weekend I'd tag along with a group of veterinary post docs who were doing their own hummingbird study. They caught and safely handled the birds and I waited patiently nearby to collect their droppings basically straight from the cloaca. Once, when the vets were done getting their measurements, they put a bird in my hand to release. My hand could barely register that I was holding anything it was so light.

I love hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are awesome. My name is Amy and I can't stop thinking about hummingbirds. These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

Facts:

1. Hummingbirds are mammals. 2. Hummingbirds humm ALL the time. 3. The purpose of the hummingbird is to flip out and eat flowers.

Hummingbirds are sooooooooooo sweet that I want to crap my pants. I can't believe it sometimes, but I feel it inside my heart. These guys are totally awesome and that's a fact. Hummingbirds are fast, smooth, cool, strong, powerful, and sweet. I can't wait to start yoga next year. I love hummingbirds with all of my body (including my humm humm).

absolutely unhinged llm bot

I love hummingbirds. Before I got a hummingbird feeder they seemed like an ultra exotic sort of bird I could only see very rarely for a brief instant, but now with a feeder I can see them several times a day. Sometimes they even watch me back through the window. Remarkably aware for such tiny animals.

This summer I woke up early and stepped outside in some bright tie-dye. I had a hummingbird approach me within about 4 feet and check out my shirt, obviously trying to decide if I was just a really weird flower or something. It was really incredible to interact with such an interesting bird (even though I'm sure he was annoyed that I wasn't in fact a giant flower).

Nice documentary about hummingbirds: https://youtu.be/vGMJZSfVW1M?si=m-LmIO9vgt7l-nV4

I have a feeder right outside my home office window, next to where my desk is. I see them all day and it makes me happy.

I actually put up one-way/reflective film on the window to block some harsh light that was being reflected straight into my face and it had the great side effect that the hummingbirds can't see me watching them. So now I can get right up to the window and watch them hang out.

We had a feeder just outside our floor-to-ceiling windows. Whenever the feeder ran out the Anna's hummingbirds would hover a couple inches from the glass, staring in at us like little bird mafiosos, demanding their due...

> I love hummingbirds.

Same here! We see them practically every day where I live - no feeder necessary, just flowers in bloom, preferably red[dish] ones.

Hummingbirds would be my favorite birds of all, except for the existence of owls. We have many owls in our neighborhood, including two that nest nearby. We know that mostly from hearing, since they do their best to stay hidden during daylight. However, they are pleasantly loud at night. That's why we know there are two of them or rather two nests--it's easy to pick up the direction of the sound.

If you take up birding, especially going out with experienced birders with their scary good senses, you'll find all sorts of rare birds actually aren't that rare.

I see RTHUs in the wild quite often during the summer here in upstate NY.

I've found that hummingbirds are surprisingly not very picky and are quite persistent. Check out what sort of things are native to your area though because you may be able to attract a lot more than hummingbirds.

I'm in the Bay Area and in terms of native flora the hummingbirds like the monkey flower (both red and orange), California fuchsia, and Pacific bleeding hearts I've got planted. They also go for the Christmas cactus and fuchsia (neither of which are native but both of which are currently in full bloom). As an added bonus the carpenter and bumble bees both frequent all of the above (as well as the California poppies).

Yeah, that's definitely a perk of living in the US / Americas. Hummingbirds were one of the most often mentioned birds in the pop-science books I read as a kid because of how unique and interesting they are, but since I grew up in Asia, they stayed "exotic" to me until I moved to the US and started seeing them regularly.

While she is focusing just on humming birds, some are casting a wider net:

> The National Geographic Photo Ark uses the power of photography to inspire people to help protect at-risk species before it’s too late. Explorer, photographer, and founder of the Photo Ark Joel Sartore has taken portraits of 17,000 species — and counting — in his quest to document our world’s astonishing biodiversity! He’s over half way to his goal of documenting all of the approximately 20,000 species living in the world’s zoos, aquariums, and wildlife sanctuaries.

* https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/our-programs/phot...

* https://abc7.com/post/endangered-species-day-photo-ark-joel-...

Also:

> In late 2023, 70-year-old birder Peter Kaestner was within striking distance of a goal that had never been accomplished: seeing more than 10,000 different species of birds in the wild.

[…]

> Just as Kaestner approached the finish line for his record 10,000 birds, though, a previously unknown competitor by the name Jason Mann flew in out of nowhere to snatch the record out from under him.

* https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/24/birding-...

We get lots of hummers on Vancouver Island and, I swear, when their feeder is empty they send an emissary to find me, buzzing around my head, saying feed me! Feed me!

We live in Western WA. Mostly Rufous and Anas. Used to feed them, but had to stop as the battles over the feeder got very scary. Plus if the feeder was empty (it was located outside our kitchen window), they would hover outside the window staring at us. Lots of guilt when this happend. In the winter the Rufous somehow fly to Mexico. The Anas somehow make it thru the winter. Then the Rufous return, and the territorial battles start again. Here is a key for life, "Do not piss off a hummingbird."

Beautiful photos and incredible work!

> I want to photograph all of them.

Birders are really a different kind.

Watching the documentaries and interviews, their motivation is always so simple and plainly stated; Then what would sound like a cute wish actually results in epics quests that span the globe, people going into completely remote areas, crazy hard to access deserts, even war zones, all to spot with their own eyes the birds they're after.

I once got a hummingbird feeder, and on the day 2, the raccoons in the neighborhood discovered it. Let's just say it was a big party with the feeder knocked down and emptied.

I had the same thing happen.

Nice pictures! I'm just happy with a few :) https://www.instagram.com/p/DCk5w93pblZ This one was taken with a 100mm macro lens.

We don't get hummingbirds in the UK. But I saw some on holiday in Costa Rica and they are amazing.

I find it hard to understand how they can eat enough calories to sustain such an incredibly energetic lifestyle.

But, UK has hummingbird hawk-moth which is equally magnificent.

With the right flowers you can have a flutter of hummingbird hawk-moths, creating a similar appearance to the bird.

I've never (knowingly) see a hummingbird hawk-moth. It would be cool to get some in the garden. I will look into whether I need to plant some more species. Thanks for the suggestion.

The first time saw it in my home town with my little boy, I thought it was a bee. Only realize that after staring it for a minute.

It was very hard to take pictures of a hummingbird with my iphone and barely any photography knowledge.

People taking time to document birds are the best people on earth

A few years ago I was lucky enough to visit Mindo in Ecuador, a small town famous for its local bird population. There on the edge of some forest is a hummingbird viewing area, a large open-frame wooden gallery with several feeders outside. I sat there for I don't know how long, utterly absorbed in these beautiful creatures - the day wasn't very bright, and with all the trees around it was almost gloomy inside the gallery, but the birds were glowing in the half light, flitting here and there like fairies, and sometimes momentarily flying into the gallery with us as they jostled with each other for feeding spots.

I remember one particularly enterprising bird had hit on the idea of claiming a whole feeder for itself, so while the others bickered and traded places, this one calmly perched on top of the feeder and chased away anyone else who got too close.

Absolutely magical.

Amazing! hummingbirds are so cool.

250 species of hummingbird alone!

fantastic! I love hummingbirds.

PETS

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