Sometimes the moment to capture a scene is a now or never kind of deal. This was one of those. August 30, 2011, I was recovering from surgery, sitting on the back porch at the river. This first-summer male had been flying up to this feeder, and then flying away, several times. (If you look closely, you can see his few red gorget feathers at the base of his neck.) He didn't drink, just flew up and then left. Finally, he managed to get his beak into the feeder, then very slowly, his tail curled around until his feet were on the feeder, where he held on while he drank. Once he managed to hook onto the yellow cage, he became very good at it. The first couple of times were in slow motion, but with practice, he got better. I would have liked to have taken these without the screen in the way, but If I were on the other side, he probably wouldn't have cooperated.
Several people on our road had feeders up, so it was a busy summer that year. I was the only one who spent so much time watching and interacting with them, though. It seemed like a waste to let such an opportunity pass by with them right outside the house. I'm glad I took the time. ©photos/content/pegyates 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment