Birds in Nature - images of wild birds by Richard Ditch

Subject: Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Place: Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior, AZ, USA
Date: January 1995
Equipment: Nikon 8008, Nikkor EDIF 400/5.6 & TC14 converter (= 560/8), tripod
Film: Sensia 100
Exposure: Aperture priority matrix meter
Scan: Minolta Dimage, 75% of frame

Commentary: As with almost all of my bird photos, this shot is the result of dumb luck and not any sort of planning. I had read about hummingbirds sometimes feeding from the holes made by sapsuckers, but had never before seen it happen. While taking photos of a wintering male Williamson's Sapsucker that conveniently had selected a tree beside the trail this female Anna's Hummingbird decided to visit the fresh sap holes.

Yes, the hummingbird is small in the frame, even cropped a bit as presented here, but for me the sapsucker holes covering the trunk are of equal importance. This image appears in the new Peterson Field Guide series, Hummingbirds of North America, by Sheri L. Williamson.