During our visits to the Chatfield State Park, we encountered many Hummingbirds. If one is familiar with hummingbirds, the first thing that is noticed is the high pitched wing beats when they are in flight at speed. Broad-Tailed Hummingbirds are some of the more common varieties that we see. When approaching close to a nest, these birds occasionally hover close by.
During early June, I found this female hummingbird perched on a branch. Periodically, she would take flight and hover around as I moved.
This gave me a clue that I should vacate the area so that her nest was not disturbed. I made another image as she returned to a different perch.
We made several trips to Chatfield during the month of June, where I managed to capture a male bird that was perched on a branch in the middle of feeding.
This year, we heard reports of a Red-Headed Woodpecker in Chatfield. Last weekend, we headed down to the State Park, hoping to find this infrequent visitor to this area. While there, I noticed a Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, hovering and feeding under the cover of some trees. As we moved away this bird disappeared from sight. I decided to retrace our path, and this bird re-appeared. There was a nest close by, so I moved away and soon this female bird settled into her nest. I made a couple of images of her on her nest as we left the area. Her nest was a lot taller, and more elongated, than many of the hummingbird nests we often see.
Returning back by a different route, I noticed a male Broad-Tailed Hummingbird hovering near a thistle bush.
Here I made several images the male fed from the thistle flower, in between perching on close by branches.
These hummingbirds are tiny, some 2-1/2 to 3 inches in length, and hover with several hundred wing beats per minute. Also, their wings are so thin that they are translucent, as can be seen in the image below.
Returning to the vehicle, we passed by another (empty) hummingbird nest. These nests are typically the size of a (breakfast) egg cup. The specimen below is the typical shape of one of these nests.
During our return trip to the vehicle, we did eventually see the Red-Headed Woodpecker perched in a dead tree. It soon fled as a couple of Ospreys flew by with fish that they had caught.