Mid Air Hover
by Debby Pueschel
Title
Mid Air Hover
Artist
Debby Pueschel
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
It is always a treat to have a Rufous Hummingbird stop by my home on its migration south to their winter home.
The male Rufous, glowing like new copper penny, often defends a patch of flowers in a mountain meadow, vigorously chasing away all intruders (including larger birds). The Rufous also nests farther north than any other hummingbird: up to south-central Alaska. Of the various typically western hummingbirds, this is the one that wanders most often to eastern North America, with many now found east of the Mississippi every fall and winter.
One hummingbird commonly seen west of the Rockies is the Rufous Hummingbird. The hummingbird is the only bird that can truly hover. It manages this by flapping its wings 20 to 80 times a second. It can fly straight up and down. Backwards and forwards. Or upside down. And up to 75 miles an hour. But don’t worry, it won’t run into you. This bird can slow down from 25 miles an hour to a dead stop in a space no longer than your index finger.
I came across this information which was very informative! Gerald Mayr is the paleontologist at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Germany who identified the fossils as hummingbirds in 2004. (He named the species Eurotrochilus inexpectatus to reflect his surprise at the finding.) One look at the short upper wing bones on the specimen and he knew: They looked just like the unusual “short and stocky humerus” that help modern-day hummingbirds with their aerial acrobatics.
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Uploaded
August 30th, 2021
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Comments (51)
Sharon W
Absolutely gorgeous! I have been offsite for a few days over the weekend so quite lost here and trying to catch up! Apologies for being late and than you for your kind support!
Brian Tada
Awesome aerial portrait of this beautiful Rufous hummingbird, Debby! Marvelous photography work! F/L
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations! Your fantastic photographic art has been chosen as a Camera Art Group feature! You are invited to archive your work in the feature archive discussion. There are many other discussions in the group where you can promote your art even further more.
Don Columbus
Congratulations, your work is Featured in "Birds In Focus" I invite you to place it in the group's "2020-2021 Featured Image Archive" Discussion
Shoal Hollingsworth
WOW, this is a gorgeous hummingbird image
Debby Pueschel replied:
Oh thank you Shoal. It is fun photographing them in so many flight patterns.