We moved the feeders a bit yesterday.

Tried a new lens today.

Getting a little closer, but the faster
shutter speed requires a higher ISO
speed and that makes for background noise.

Sure fun to watch these lil critters!

Get out of the way  everyone,
new Alpha male in town,
and only his family and
friends get to eat on this
feeder from now on!!!

All grown up

Saturday August 23, 2014.


Wonderful Day, wonderful weather,
everyone is happy and enjoying the wedding.

What a treat it has been to watch this family grow and develop into a loving, happy five some.

We are so blessed!

Rehearsal Dinner Fun

Raquel, Riley and Maurine ham it up for photographers.

Lovely event, thanks Masons!

Today I used a shutter speed of 1/2500 of a second to capture the wings. Perhaps a little faster would be better.

Or, perhaps a little slower speed would give us more of a motion effect.

I believe their wings beat at approximately 2000 beats per second. Is it a wonder they need so much sugar to survive?

Mama's resting after taking care of those babies.
Catching a bit of lunch and taking a breather while Dad feeds the babies.

Babies are eating from the feeders now too, so Mom gets a bit of a break.

Hand held at 1/80th second with my 55mm lens.
Taken today around noon.

Looking through some oldies, and here comes Fall.
Window reflection taken from afar in the Tahoe area.
Really looking forward to a trip to Yosemite and Tahoe this October.

The sun was setting on this lovely beach in Northern California.
The evening was windy and cool and  the colors were magical.

One of the big bosses of the feeder stopping by for a drink around mid morning. Using Macro lens set at about 3.5 to blur the background a bit so the focus is on the bird.

So fun to watch these birds flocking to the feeders every day for a big drink.  With the drought in California, the number of flowers is much lower than normal. Right now we have 4 feeders going every day and go through about 10 pounds of sugar per week.