All photos taken in Albany, Oregon.  Albert Ryckman: “Yesterday afternoon the sun was bright enough that I could “freeze” the Anna’s at my front yard feeder using my Canon R5’s Eye Detection Tracking and maximum shutter speed of 1/8000.   Here’s my favorite dozen from an afternoon’s hard work.”

Don’t you wish you could be a hummer for awhile, buzz your friends and family?

Hummers are not juyst master aviators, able to hover, fly backwards, fly vertically upward. Their figure-eight wing movements are beyond other birds. Their speed is beyond most birds. Their aggression will turn away ravens and raptors. TYHeir heart can beat up to 500 time per minute…when it’s warm. Our over-winteroing Anna’s uses torpor at times of cold. One will fly into a cavity )probably left by some woodpecker), turn the body heat down to 60 degrees# and slow the heart to some mammaliam level of fifty beats per minute. Feathered insulation is key. A HUMMER’S THROAT MAY HAVE FIFTEEN LAYERS OF FEATHERS–warmth and wondrous iridescence combo.

# Normal body temp: 100-104 F.