December Hummer

by Brian Tada

Title

December Hummer

Artist

Brian Tada

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photograph

Description

For a fleeting moment, a male Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) flashes its iridescent head and gorget throat feathers in the late fall afternoon sun as it hovers near a backyard feeder in the San Francisco Bay Area. This photo was taken December 1st, 2015.

Anna's hummingbird is the only hummer in North America with the male having an all-red head of feathers when the sunlight refracts off of them at just the right angle. The iridescence of hummingbirds is considered by researchers to be among the most vibrant among birds. The head and gorget feathers showing hues of red and magenta in this photo appear velvety black at other times, depending on the light and angle of the bird to the viewer.

Once confined to the coastal areas of southern California and Baja California, the range of Anna's hummingbird has greatly expanded eastward into Arizona and northward along the Pacific Coast into British Columbia, Canada, thanks to humming bird feeders and the extensive planting of exotic flowering plants along the coast and inland of North America.

Hummingbirds have the highest metabolism rate of any warm-blooded animal to fuel their incredibly rapid lifestyle. They can flap their wings about 50 times per second, making a humming sound which gives them their name. Their heart rate can reach in excess of 1,200 beats per minute and they have a breathing rate of 250 breathes per minute even at rest.

Hummingbirds fly an average speed of 25-30 MPH and can do a fast dive (as in courtship) of up to 60 MPH.

Because of their incredibly high metabolism, hummingbirds consume more than their weight in nectar each day, visiting hundreds of flowers daily.

Their long bills and tongues are specially designed to extract the sweet nectar from tubular flowers upon which they depend for survival and well-being, in addition to the insects they catch in flight or on vegetation.

The more I observe these flying jewels, the more I realize only a divine Creative Intelligence could have designed them with such deft, grace and beauty.

The passage in Job 12:7,9 puts it well:: "But now ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you: Which of these does not know that the hand of ADONAI has done this?" (Tree of Life Bible)

Grateful to God, and thankful to the group administrator for featuring this image on the home page of the Fine Art America group::

* A BIRDING GROUP - WINGS, 12.05.15
* 500 VIEWS ~ 1 IMAGE A DAY, 05.21.19


Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version. Copyright © 2011, 2012, 2013 by the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society. Used by permission of the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society. "TLV" and "Tree of Life Version" and "Tree of Life Holy Scriptures" are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.

Photograph of Anna's hummingbird copyright © 2015 Brian Tada. To the glory of God. All rights reserved. Downloading, duplicating, distributing, and/or altering this photo is prohibited.

As this is part of my livelihood, your purchase would be appreciated to support my continuing work in fine art nature photography. Thank you very much. God bless you.

Uploaded

December 5th, 2015

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