The Hummingbird Thread / Hummingbird Film

[Duane McDowell]

Originally Posted by Connie Star

I've used a few different cameras and lenses. I think the most important is to find a place where there are a lot of them. These were all taken in Costa Rica, and almost all of them were taken at a place in Monteverde where they feed them, and attract some unusual species. Then you have to shoot, shoot shoot, then delete, delete, save, delete. I have a Canon EOS xti, and usually use a 75-300mm zoom; I got the image stabilized version last year. One tip- it doesn't work to use a flash; they have to be sunlit. The color is "structural" not pigment based. If you use a flash, you get a weird yellow-green color that is like the reflection of the retina known as "pink eye". Autofocus doesn't usually work fast enough so I focus where I hope the bird will be. They have this nice habit of returning to the same branch, more or less, after feeding which is convenient. I have shot thousands of pictures of hummers over the years, and these are among the best.

Same for me. I'll shoot 2-3,000 pix over the course of a day and keep just a few. Going back to Ecuador this January - hope to have a little time for Colibris!

[Connie Star]

Originally Posted by Duane McDowell

Same for me. I'll shoot 2-3,000 pix over the course of a day and keep just a few. Going back to Ecuador this January - hope to have a little time for Colibris!

What do you do in Ecuador? My husband built one of his walkway systems in Tiputini- ever been there?

[Duane McDowell]

Originally Posted by Connie Star

What do you do in Ecuador? My husband built one of his walkway systems in Tiputini- ever been there?

We went to the Galapagos and the Mindo area in 2005 with my parents on a birdwatching tour with a group from the Lake Erie Nature Center in Cleveland.
This next trip will be an internship with Ecuagenera in Cuenca (I'm a full time student at the University of Minnesota currently). My trips into the woods will be more orchid-focused this time, but I'm hoping for some time near the feeders.
I've got some of my pictures up on Flickr if you'd be interested in taking a look.
Flickr: Duane McDowell's Photostream
I'm still working on getting them loaded up - it'll be a few weeks before I have most of them on... One of the really good hummingbird days is posted.