Coming in for a sip of sweet nectar

All three of my photos uploaded today have been heavily cropped : ) This tiny Rufous Hummingbird male was photographed on June 27th, at Highwood House along Highway 40, in Kananaskis. Friends Phil and Jan very kindly invited me to go along with them when they went back to check these birds again. A few days earlier, they had stopped there and found that the lady who captures and bands these fast-flying birds happened to be there with her set-up. On Wednesday, she was all prepared to band, but it was so windy that the net around the feeder was blowing about , which kept the birds from flying closer. I took a few photos of the Hummers, but, boy, I find it's a real (almost impossible!) challenge for a point-and-shoot camera : ) This posted image is the "best" of them and may be the only photo I can post. These tiny birds are so interesting (and vicious, too!). I didn't know till Wednesday, that the males will sit in a tree and they know how to position their body so that the sun catches their orange-red gorget (feathers on the throat and chin)) and this sends off an amazing "flash" of brilliant colour that could be seen right across the parking lot. Spectacular! What a way to attract the females, lol!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous_Hummingbird

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/rufous_hummingbird/id