Hummingbird Feeder

The rufous hummingbirds have been back on the island for a couple of weeks and have started becoming more frequent visitors to my feeder. A picture of a hummingbird was still on my "yet to be captured" photo list, so this week I kept the camera by the glass door looking out at the feeder and today, finally got lucky.

I want to get some shots in better lighting but for the time being I think the silhouette effect on the overcast day actually looks pretty cool. What amazes me is that if you click to look at the larger version of the photo, you can make out feather-like shapes in the otherwise blurry wings.

I've been under the weather of late and haven't felt like venturing out too far, so my new ambitious project has been to try and identify as many plants that grow on my street as possible. On my short daily walks I've captured photos of over 50 species, and at home curled up with the field guide have identified over 30 of them already. These floral discoveries will likely be the feature of my next couple of posts.....although J-Pod finally returned to the inland waters today after a ~45 day absence, the first time in 30+ years they haven't been seen here in the month of April. A lot of people have been so sad about this fact, but I take the more optimistic outlook that they've been hanging out somewhere with tons of great fish to eat! In any case, if I manage to catch a glimpse of the orcas that will definitely make it to the blog too.