As the light fades and darkness takes over for the night, hummingbirds gater at my feeders in numbers . It is the only time of day when I will see several birds gathering together on 1 feeder. They all know that survival to get through the night depends on "filling the tank" with nectar, prior to finding a roosting place , then sleeping through the dark hours in a state of "torper" Which is pretty close to suspended animation. ** Female on left and male on right ... Rufous Hummingbirds ** A final note today about "irridescence" Unless you are a keen observer of nature you may find this feature confusing. Some feathers possess this quality and when the light hits them at a certain angle the feathers light up like neon! As in the case of hummingbirds , especially the males. Their beautiful throat feathers when positioned at a sharp angle simply radiate light that looks like an electric current has lit up the feathers. This is an amazing bit of nature and has useful merit when attracting a female and also used to intimidate adversaries such as competing males or to scare off other species.
* IRRIDESCENCE ... the quality of showing many bright colours that change with movement
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September 2024
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Summer 2023.. I just received notice that my blog has been awarded a distinction of being one of the top 10 photography blogs in Canada.
* All images and content copyright Terry Venables and NaturalImagesCanada *
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