...I can't help myself...

Ironically, I also blipped a hummingbird one year ago. Amazing what a difference a year and a lens makes in terms of the quality of the photo. I've still got two hummers here and they were battling it out in the garden today, giving me several photo opportunities. I had the shutter set at a ridiculously low speed for this, but it still came out good and I rather like the completely blurred wings. And this is straight out of the camera, no cropping, no fiddling.

I actually had quite a bit to choose from today and I've posted the also-rans in a slide show on Flickr if you'd like to have a look. In addition to the usual avian suspects, I had THREE chippies out on the patio (with occasional incursions onto the deck, much to the frustration of Phoebe-the-cat who resides inside the house and had to resort to throwing herself at the window.) I got a cute shot of one of them in the bird feeder, looking innocent with his best "who me?" face on.

And on the finch-front ... the good news is that Hope the Finch is holding her own. Her injured eye is still closed so it remains to be seen if she will be able to be released. Keep those fingers crossed, please, and send some good finch-juju our way if you're of a mind to. The less good news is that I have been unable to catch the sick finch, despite several valiant efforts today (and several hours). Every time I got within reach, the little guy would fly off. One of his eyes seems to be pretty good but the other is really swollen and looking bad. I am going to continue to try to catch him - wish me luck. Wish some of you fellow wildlife lovers lived a bit closer - I could probably use some help (or at least moral support...)

Thanks for the lovely comments, stars, and hearts on my chatty birds yesterday. I was planning to find some other interesting bird commentary to share with you today, but the hummers had to win. Maybe tomorrow...

Happy Thursday, blippers!