Broad-billed Hummingbird

Gallery: AvianPosted July 16, 20171,363 views10 comments

Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris)

Place: Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior, AZ
Date: July 11, 2007, 7:47 am
Equipment: Nikon D7200, AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR @ 460mm, Induro CLT303 tripod with RRS BH-55 ball head
Exposure: ISO 1250, Aperture priority matrix metered, 1/800th @ f/5.6 under overcast sky
Raw, PS CC 2017 on Mac, cropped to 63% of full frame
Not set up, no cloning, no NR

A chance encounter while trying to see a reported rarity (missed). I started to take photos of the flowers (Mexican Bird of Paradise) when I saw the hummingbird come in to sample a number of the blossoms. This is the best frame of the few I managed to get.

This is a juvenile male. Primarily seen south of Tucson in places like Madera and Ramsey Canyons, the species began breeding at Boyce Thompson Arboretum about 10 years ago. This is probably the northernmost reach of their breeding range.

Honest critiques requested; all comments appreciated. Please view the large version before commenting.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on July 16, 2017 at 6:30 PM

A very nice shot of this SE AZ specialty, Rich. I like the composition and your use of depth of field.

Sorry you dipped on the rarity.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 16, 2017 at 7:09 PM

Excellent detail in the hummer and a very nice composition with the flower, Richard. Amazingly low bg noise for that iso.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by John Neukirch on July 17, 2017 at 7:06 AM

I absolutely love the colors of the flower. The hummer is sharp where it needs to be, the head and beak. In a perfect world a little more DOF would be nice because of the OOF tail but still a stunning shot.

Registered on July 9, 2012, 207 Posts, 1476 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on July 17, 2017 at 10:28 AM

Overall, I like the image. Nice to catch this beauty on a nice flower. I wish the upper wing was not clipped. I also think in post processing some selective dodging and/or adding a bit of light via other tools to the hummer would help. I played a bit and liked it better with a few adjustments.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on July 17, 2017 at 6:09 PM

An eye-catching image for sure. Beautiful colors, nice pose, and a clean background.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on July 17, 2017 at 6:14 PM

This is very nice, Rich, and that's a gorgeous plant. A little more space up top would help, still very impressive considering the overcast natural light.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on July 17, 2017 at 8:38 PM

I pretty much agree with the small criticisms made, but I like it also just like it is.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Kathy Snead on July 17, 2017 at 9:53 PM

Richard

i love the overall feel of this photo. It's like an oriental painting. I do wish you had a little more room at the top, but I understand it was one of those quick shots. ( love those)

Best
Kathy Snead

Registered on April 6, 2017, 104 Posts, 397 Comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on July 18, 2017 at 7:13 AM

As Kathy has said - certainly an oriental feel to this one. Nice wall pic. I like it as is.
JohnR

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on July 18, 2017 at 4:21 PM

This is a nice painterly feel to it. I like the composition. I think you could add a little canvas to the top and that would ameliorate the issues with the clipped wing. I think there is enough motion blur in the clipped wing that added canvas would make that negligible. Just a thought. Pretty flowers.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments