Hummingbird

Arizona is the only place I've ever been where hummingbirds are common. There are feeders like this everywhere and as soon as you put one up with sugar water in it, hummingbirds appear. Arizona has the most hummingbird numbers and variety of any state in north America.

This is a female black-chinned hummingbird, the commonest where we are, in the south east. I was hoping to blip a good picture of a male, which has a black and vivid purple throat, but haven't managed yet to get one in the sun. The female is less colourful, but when the sun catches it the plumage of all hummingbirds really shines.

Today we've transferred from Sierra Vista to Patagonia, about an hour south of Tucson.