Hummingbirds and Chipmunks

Cloudy skies and the threat of rain today, so I decided to stay in camp and finally get some shots of the uniquely colored Rufous Hummingbird that has been terrorizing my nectar feeder for the past week.

An incredibly territorial and aggressive little bird, he has taken up residence in the tree the nectar feeder hangs from and absolutely will not tolerate any other hummingbird feeding from “his” feeder.

Very unique coloring, just a stunning little guy.

Finally, After Twenty Years

Let me say right up front, I am not sure if these guys are chipmunks or some kind of ground squirrel, but, one thing for certain, they are very entertaining little guys.

A long, long time ago, probably close to twenty years or so, I was camped somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and missed what I thought was just a great photo opportunity. I was having breakfast on the picnic table, got up and went inside to get something, and when I was coming back out the door, I saw a chipmunk’s butt protruding from my coffee cup, that had been left on the picnic table. Just cracked me up, but by the time I could grab a camera, he was on to other things.

Now, the coffee cup was just a standard, non-photogenic, travel mug, so I went out and bought the blue metal, “cowboy by the fire” type metal mug you see in the images in this blog post. Now I have carried this mug with me for two decades waiting for another opportunity to get that shot I missed back in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and I finally got my chance.

For you purists, the two shots above are what this guy looks like in his natural environment, but that was not what I was after on this day.

I wanted to get that shot I missed so many years ago, and I believe I did. In fact, as you will see, I kind of got carried away with project over the next several hours …

…..especially when this little guy was joined by another of his kind, and there was non-stop action for the next two hours, and I just couldn’t help myself, I must have taken a thousand shots.

These two would not tolerate each other feeding out of the cup and would aggressively chase each other anytime they both appeared at the same time.

It just cracked me up the way they would cautiously approach the cup to see if the other was there, then all hell would break loose if the cup was occupied.