Yes, this morning, I actually got a picture of one of our resident hummingbirds!!!

The main male and female were fighting over the feeder.

I kept seeing them blur by the windows, and when I paid closer attention, I saw the male sitting on a tree branch watching while the female came to the feeder, hovered around a bit and then started to sip. Then, the male flew down very close and fast, chasing the female off.

They did this over and over, the chase swirling through the sky into the neighbor’s backyard and back.

I went over to the window and stood, phone in hand with the camera app open, and when the female came to hover, I snapped as fast as I could.

I got two pretty good pictures, but they’re not nearly as clear and focused as I would like…

Look at her wings, though! They’re flapping so fast, they look almost see-through, strikingly translucent.

Awesome!!

It’s been a week, and the feeder’s down halfway — not bad, considering how tiny those sweet hummers are. 🙂

The ones we have, like in Ringgold several years ago, are Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds.

A male is clearly dominating the feeder. We can tell it’s a he by his red chest.

He usually sits on a branch of one of the trees in the back of our yard waiting and doing fly-bys on the other hummers who come up.

It’s almost impossible to pick him out until he moves and then we can track him. While he’s seated, though, he’s almost completely camouflaged, at least from this distance.

And there’s another most prominent female. She, like all female Red-Throated Hummingbirds, does not have a red throat at all. She’s mostly gray.

Both the male and the female have been very curious about us, taking time to hover to the side of the feeder in between sips, just looking in at us.

The other day, when I opened the curtain in the morning, the male was at the feeder. Instead of flying off like I would’ve anticipated, he hovered over to the center of the picture window, checking me out. It made me feel like an animal in a zoo he was visiting…a little Twilight Zone-ish.

I hope that they’ll get comfortable enough to let me take some pictures soon. 🙂