We’ve always had hummingbirds coming around our house because we try to keep feeders available to them year round. This year, however, there seems to be a greater number of the little guys hitting our feeders and the flowers in the yard. Our hot poker plant did exceptionally well this year and therefore has attracted many hummers and bees. Early in June I set up a chair about 6 feet from the plant to take some photos. I set up an off camera flash set at 1/64th power, used my Fuji XT-2, Fuji 100-400mm lens at 400mm, and just waited for them to show up. At first I was tripod mounted, but found I couldn’t get the birds framed quick enough, so reverted to hand-held. Shutter speed was 1/250th, ISO 200, and f/5.6 or f/8.

Here is a sampling of what I shot that day. For the complete gallery, click here.