Xennie
I started hanging hummingbird feeders in my back yard when I first found out that there were a couple of Anna's Hummingbirds there in June 2005. I tried the larger feeders first because I thought that they would all come and start drinking from it at the same time. But as hummingbirds are very territorial creatures, they would often chase each other away. When I thought of the idea that I could separate little single feeders away from the sight of the bigger one, I could watch them drinking and having peace with each other.
Finally after I separated them I could get better photos of them sitting and drinking the 3 parts water to 1 part sugar mix I made. But when my family's digital camera broke I could not get pictures of them doing their amazing acrobatics or capture the iridescent plumage. During that time though I got to know them a bit more and found out the individuals from different colors and amounts of gorget feathers on their throats. I started to name them. Two of my favorites were Xentheop and Xennie. Luckily, for my birthday gift in April 2007 my mother went out and got a new digital zoom camera.
This camera was better with zooming capabilities that I could use to capture the birds posture and colors in larger format. The small feeder outside my window and the blinds inside made a very good photo taking place. I got many good pictures and I hung up a new large feeder to add more options for the birds to drink from within range of the close up setting on my camera. When my favorite Hummingbird, Xennie, molted into adult plumage and took charge of the small feeder I got many very good photos of him, including the ones in this article. When I had to go back to school in September I couldn't spend time taking photos and watching hummingbirds in my yard. Luckily the holidays came and the birds started coming quite frequently to the feeders in search of the nectar missing from the flowers that bloomed in my yard in summertime.
These photos in the article were taken on December, 31, 2007.
