Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The Hummer Dance and Posts of the Week


Something a little bit different here.

Back in August, hummingbird activity was bustling. Ruby red throats were at the feeders often - perhaps fortifying their tiny gemstone bodies for the upcoming trip south.

We also began noticing that two hummers would engage in a kind of aerobatic dance - sometimes for up to a few minutes at a time. On once such day, I had my trusty camera by my side. I knew the photos would not turn out well. Although it wasn't exceptionally dull, it was somewhat overcast, and what little sunlight there was, was not shining on the subjects but from behind them instead. So now you know that they're pretty poor images as far as crispness and clarity go but they've still captured some of the hummingbirds' dance routine.

The problem was that the subjects looked poor at my usual large-sized images. And I had so many of them. What else was there to do but make a collage called The Hummer's Dance (not to be confused with The Mummer's Dance but every bit as lovely)?

I played around with a bit of clip art and fired up my old friends Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop - and the humming birds came out to dance.



The-Hummer-Dance

I hope you enjoyed their show. More photos coming up soon.

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And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if your blog post is named as a POTW.










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A GOOD READ

The Art of Leaving
by Brian
at WayStationOne




A Hunter's Heart
by Kat
at Seeking Sanity


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THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

It's Like the Wild Kingdom Out Here Y'all
by Ellen
at Stuff From Ellen's Head

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FEELING NOSTALGIC?

Fireplace Memories Warm the Heart
by Rick
at Life Changes


The Best Haircut in the City
by Daryl
at Out and About in New York City


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PHINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Never Tear Us Apart
by Gail
at Louisiana Belle

Glamour
by Kamana
at Capturing Joy Everyday

Prowler, Stalker and Hunter
by Daniel
at The Pixel Collective

Autumn Harvest
by Karen
at Pixel Posts


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JUST PLAIN ALL AROUND GOOD

Let Freedom Ring
by SK Waller
at WallerBlog

The Lure of a New Path
by Rosaria
at SixtyFiveWhatNow

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YOU'LL LAUGH

E.T., Home Phone
by Growing Wild
at Growing Wild on Waverly Lane

Fashion is  a Two-faced Bitch
by Chicken
at Chicken's Consigliere

What are the Deer Plotting?
by Linda
at The View From Squirrel Ridge


***

Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.
 

Thank you

45 comments:

joeh said...

I don't often see hummers here (I guess I need to lure them with feeders)Several years ago I watched as many, maybe 10 or more "danced" for at least 10 minutes. I think it was in the fall but not sure, Is that a mating dance?

TexWisGirl said...

cute little aerialists! some great picks for POTW, again!

Anita said...

Yes, I enjoyed the show! I also marveled at your technical/artistic adeptness.
Thanks for the list. I hope to visit a few.

Kamana said...

i would love to capture some hummers. thanks for the shout out at the POTW!

Tabor said...

Have the hummers moved on??

Shammickite said...

I had quite a few hummers here this summer, as I had a hanging feeder and so did my neighbour. But haven't seen any for a while so my feeder is washed and put away until the spring. The hummers are on their way to warmer climes.

ADRIAN said...

Great art work. A master class.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

Oh I know, we had so many warm and sunny weeks with hummingbirds at our bee balm flowers!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

I could watch the hummers for hours..they seem to really enjoy dive-bombing each other. I don't usually end up with good photos of them..just every big once in a while I can catch them in the bushes beside the feeders.

Rita said...

Sweet! They are very difficult to photograph because they move so fast, but I could picture them dancing. :)

Bob Bushell said...

Lots of Hummingbirds, love them.

messymimi said...

Not many hummingbirds here, i love when i can see them through another person's eyes.

Lisa Gordon said...

Hilary, I absolutely LOVE what you did here.
Truly beautiful work.

Linda said...

Nicely done! I'm sure that was amazing to watch. We don't have a lot of hummers around here - we lack flowers and feeders.

Linette said...

Beautiful hummingbird silhouettes!

DJan said...

I love the dance! Just wonderful, HIlary. :-)

stephen Hayes said...

How interesting that today we both posted pictures of feathers. Now off to visit your best blogs.

Brian Miller said...

smiles...thanks for the inclusion...
will try and read a couple this evening...

i love how you put this together and the falling feathers in between...we have hummers that visit the back porch all the time...though usually earlier in the year than now...have not seen them in some time...

ellen abbott said...

Thanks Hilary! Right place at the right time is exactly right. i loved the hummers. so amazing to see their blur of wings.

Anonymous said...

Hi Hilary, I did enjoy it, thanks. They sort of remind me of the Blue Angels. Thanks for linking to my post as Post of the Week:-) I appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

Hi Hilary, I did enjoy it, thanks. They sort of remind me of the Blue Angels. Thanks for linking to my post as Post of the Week:-) I appreciate it.

Red said...

I have seen hummers dance. It's rather majestic. You get the idea across with your photos. Thanks for posts of the week.

Barb said...

I like their dance routines, but I bet they've all danced away by now. Is it cold there?

Betsy Brock said...

I love those shots...amazing!

Cloudia said...

Enjoyed the hummer sillhouettes


congrats, winners!



ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= . <3

Linda said...

Thanks for the shout out!
Your hummingbird images are pure delight!

Theresa said...

Oh those hummers are so dang hard to capture and such territorial little buggers too! Seems to me they waste so much of that energy just chasing off other hummers! I miss the little Ruby Throated variety but the Rufous and Calliope have their charms and let's face it, thy are all little jewels of aviation! Thank you for the little summer breeze in pictures.

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

I found myself humming

bzzzzzzzzzz

Daryl said...

charming .. those little fluttering wings ..

and all those terrific posts of the week!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful collage of the hummers!

Kat said...

We didn't have as many hummingbirds here this summer as we normally do. I got a few pics but that is it. I love your collage of hummer pics. Lovely!

Thank you for the mention! I'm honored!

Ruby said...

I enjoyed the dance Hilary!

Unknown said...

Fantastic composition. Hilary, I really like it.

sage said...

Hummingbirds are unique, thanks for the photos

Anonymous said...

I love your collage! The falling feather was a great touch. Thanks for sharing their dance with us! Congrats to the POTW - thanks for sharing those with us, too!

Maggie May said...

Very hard to get anything so fast as a humming bird into a photo so you did extremely well getting several together!
Maggie x

Nuts in May

Indrani said...

How creatively done!
I must try this some time.
Congrats to all POTW winners!

Betty Manousos said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Betty Manousos said...

hat a fantastic work, hilary. i did enjoy the show.
and thanks for the great potw picks as well.

happy weekend, my dearest!
big hugs!!

Unspoken said...

I can't tell you exactly why, but hummingbirds have always made me happy. If there is magic, it is surely found where they are :). Heaven to see them!

Thank you, Hilary! It is really lovely to see my blogger friends dropping by and making me feel welcome as always!

photowannabe said...

I think you need some music with the Hummers Dance.
The photos are wonderful.
Two hummers have been flitting around our Manzanita tree the last few days. I didn't see them all summer long.
I actually said , welcome home to them today. (:0)

Gail Dixon said...

The hummer dance is wonderful. Quite amazing, really. I think having them mostly in silhouette makes the images more striking.

Thank you so very much for selecting my mating butterflies for a POTW. I am truly honored. Sorry I'm so late getting here, but it's been a doozy of a week. Hope you are well and look forward to more of your photos!

Unknown said...

I know there's a water and syrup combination they enjoy from feeders, as I've watched this activity years ago, and it was fun!

Joanna Jenkins said...

We have tons of hummingbirds in our area-- I can watch them all day long.

Thanks for the fab POTW posts. I've read several and they are really outstanding.

xo jj

Mandy said...

Brilliant collage! You've just made me think that maybe I should get a telephoto lens when I'm in South Africa in December so I can capture the birds.