This past weekend (June 13th & 14th) I spent each morning at Discovery Park, arriving before 7am each day to coincide with the peak of activity by small birds. Specifically, I went looking for rufous hummingbirds before they begin migrating south to Mexico in the next two months.

What ended up happening (after a nice person in the park told me where he’d seen dozens of hummingbirds buzzing about) was probably the two best days of hummingbird photography I’ve had yet. More importantly, it gave me a lot of practice shooting these tiny, fast creatures, as well as an idea on an equipment modification I could make that I’m going to have to try to fabricate (possibly with the help of a 3D printer) which, if I end up doing, I’ll detail in a future blog post.

One thing I noticed was that many of these hummingbirds had their juvenile plumage, meaning they hatched this year. My best guess as to why they’re so tightly concentrated is that they haven’t quite figured out that they need to spread out yet–or maybe they’ve been pushing each other outward all along!

But what you’re here for is far too many hummingbird pictures. Rather than by day, I’ll section them by species: rufous first, then Anna’s, then a few non-hummingbird photos I took as well. Enjoy!