Shooting Hummingbirds.

I made a video of hummingbirds buzzing about our backyard.  I'm fascinated by hummingbirds, tiny bundles of iridescent fluff with high-speed aerobatic talent.

Weve installed a number of feeders - I call them "hummingbird traps" - to encourage these mini-birdies to choose our backyard as the place to hang out.   And this year has been a banner year for quantity of hummers in the backyard.

Don't imagine that we've had hummingbird swarms (like you might see on YouTube).  I'm grateful just to see five or six of the little fighter-pilot critters all dive bombing at once.  That represents a big population increase over previous years.

In a moment of weakness I resolved to get a stop-action picture of a hummer in mid-flight.

What's more, I would use the point'n'shoot in my pocket to take the picture.

Frankly this turned out to be quite a challenge given that I was using a camera which literally fits in my jeans.

My criteria were pretty simple: I wanted a picture of a hummingbird in flight showing its wings in focus without any blurring.  This was a difficult task given my limited patience, expertise and equipment.

It became immediately apparent that there was no way I could get an in-focus shot while the bird was flying.  They're just too fast.  I would have to wait with my camera trained on one of the feeders, poised for instant action when a bird decided to drop by for a wee drink.

My point'n'shoot's fastest shutter speed is 1/2000th of a second, barely up to the challenge.  And there needs to be full sunlight to get a decent picture at that speed.

Did I mention there is going to be a video?  If you make it through all these still pictures and silly comments you can watch the video.  Or you can just scroll down.

Also don't forget that you can click on any picture to see an enlargement.

Our hummers are mean little critters who try to chase the other thirsty hummingbirds away from the sugar juice in the feeders.  It's just simple sugar water.  I mix the magic potion myself (Secret formula: 1 part granulated sugar and 4 parts tap water.)

In fact, this is the first year I can remember having multiple birds on a feeder at the same time.  They're fighting over sugar water!  It must be high energy stuff.  I suppose they get their protein and fiber from eating insects.

Watching these bird brains' high velocity antics as they pursue one another over who gets the soft drink made me turn to video.

Yeah, my pocket point and shoot does video too.  No, not great video.  What did you expect?  Did I mention that the camera fits in my pocket?

Anyway, I edited together short clips of birdies feeding on sugar drink as they anxiously keep a lookout for enemy hummers who might swoop down on them at any moment and chase them away faster than a human eye can blink.   It's a tough life being a hummingbird.

I think this next shot is my best picture of stopped hummingbird wings.  Too bad the head is obscured by the metal post of the feeder.

The final still is my luckiest shot.  You can see the bird and the feeder and you can see the shadows in the lower left.  Got that?  Now look closely at the light fixture in the upper left corner and you'll see both the bird and feeder reflected upside down in the glass.  Three in one.  Cool.

I remember mentioning something about a video.  It will give you some idea of what the hummingbirds in our backyard are up to these days.  They're really into sugar water.

(A word of warning - in order not to scare the hummers off most of the video was taken with high zoom magnification.  That means there's a lot of camera shake.  Sorry about that.  Someday maybe I'll find a tripod that I can carry around in my pocket.)

Birds Who Don't Know The Words 2 - by David Ocker - © 2016 David Ocker - 167 seconds

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Previous Mixed Meters stories about Hummingbirds:
The story of Red Thor, a hummer who thought he owned our driveway - (also a crow).
The original Birds Who Don't Know the Words from 2007 (my first attempt to add music to a video) 

Our backyard has been a fertile source of inspiration for Mixed Meters over the years.  Here are posts with music videos inspired by the back of our house:
The Mister and Mockingbirds - listening to the birds while watering the ferns
Breezes in the Danger Garden - like hummingbirds, plants can eat insects
The Parrot Duet - two parrots on a wire plus a piano and a trumpet.  And some drums.  And another bird.
All my videos with my music are available here.

My friend Eric Peterson has a blog called The Odd Sock in which he publishes lots of fascinating nature photos all taken in his neck of the woods.  Eric has unlimited patience, remarkable technical expertise and the proper equipment for taking pictures.  That's why his shots are so much better than mine.  I recommend that you check out his pictures.

On Flowers

On Flowers is my new video.  It's less than 90 seconds long.  I'm trying not to tax your attention span with long pieces. I'm saving those for the future.

The music is quiet, lots of noodling piano, perfect for that spare moment in your day when you want to escape your otherwise harried life.  Please don't watch or listen while operating heavy machinery.

The video imagery features our six-legged winged friends feasting on nectar from purple flowers at the Huntington Gardens, here in Pasadena.  The people going to and fro in the background were more interested, no doubt, in seeing Pinky.

On Flowers by David Ocker - © 2016 by David Ocker - 87 seconds

This is the 31st music video I've ever posted to YouTube.  All of them are in one place if you're curious.  Here's an oldie you might like, called Lilypad.  The subject of Lilypad is goldfish.

Doctor Pyewacket

We have a new kitten in the house. His name is Doctor Pyewacket.  He was a foundling.

One day (May 11 to be precise, a Monday) Leslie heard a high-pitched sound of distress coming from some bushes near our house.  The source was a little black furry thing.  The feline-human bonding process began almost instantaneously.

We performed a modicum of due diligence to determine if the kitty belonged to anyone.  We asked a few neighbors, none of whom claimed him.  We put up a single small "Found Kitten" sign for a few days.  No bereaved little girl appeared asking for the return of her cat.

Apparently someone had just dropped their unwanted kitty in the shrubbery and run away, hoping cat lovers would find it.  That's exactly what happened.  Doctor Pyewacket is one seriously lucky cat.

A week later we took Pyewacket to the vet.  The contract he agreed to was simple: we'll take care of him for life.  In exchange all he needs to do is be cute and affectionate.  Oh, and he never gets to go outside again, ever.  He gets extra bonus points if he remembers to use the cat box.

Leslie named him Pyewacket after the Siamese cat in the movie Bell, Book and Candle.  You can watch some scenes of Pyewacket in this video (just remember that Frank Sinatra has nothing to do with it.)  That was one seriously well-trained movie animal.

The name Pyewacket was originally one of several imps (along with Elemanzer, Peck in the Crown, Grizzel and Greedigut) described by "witchfinder general" Matthew Hopkins in 1644.  I'm sure he knew where-of he spoke.

Our houseguest Isabel gave Pyewacket his doctoral honors.  The name has stuck in that form.  Dr. P. is not to be confused with Mr. P. the peacock who lived in our tree the first year we were in Pasadena, shown here confronting our mackerel tabby Big Boy.

Dr. P. is getting along as well as might be expected with Chowderhead, our big red dog.  Our two older cats, however, are not so accepting.  The male, Crackle Pop, is curious but standoffish.  The female, Spackle Puss, thinks that this new rival is evil in the flesh.  Spackle is seriously unhappy about the extra pussy cat on the premises.

I tried hard to catch some of Dr. Pyewacket's cuteness on video.  His dark color makes him hard to photograph.  The good pictures happen when you're quick and well-lit.   I edited the best scenes into a short video.  Then I added a frightfully over-composed soundtrack.

Watch as Pyewacket is tormented by his humans!  Marvel as he drags a mouse by its tail!  Thrill as he meets the dog!  Laugh as he chases the evil laser dot!  Snicker as he swipes at me for not wanting him to chew on my computer cables!  Guffaw as he attacks the camera!  Marvel again as he sings along with the music while he rides on my shoulder.

Someday, when Pyewacket is older, heavier and not nearly so active we'll show him this video and say "You were so cute.  What happened?"  Meanwhile, here are some pictures of our other pets.  First the brother sister team of Spackle Puss on the left and Crackle Pop on the right, shown dozing in their natural habitat.

Then, Chowderhead waiting to be given a treat and Crackle resting his head on my thigh as I sit at my computer.

Finally, just because, here are some pictures of other animals, real and imagined, photographed in the more-or-less wild.

Here's a Mixed Meters post with video about dinosaur puppets at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (where Leslie works on worms).   Another post which delves into the history of the dueling-dino image after discussing the Rite of Spring.

There are plenty of other Mixed Meters posts about cats and/or dogs.  Check them out.  You know you want to.

Nine Years Of Blogging

I've named this hummingbird Red Thor.

Red Thor usually looks kind of orange in color.   Hummingbird markings seem to change according to the light.  For all I know Thor might be actually be female.  Guy or gal, Thor thinks he owns our driveway.

I see Thor most mornings.  I watch as he perches on a high exposed tree branch from which he flies short sorties to catch insects, hovering briefly in mid-air, then returns to his spot.  When another hummer tries to use one of the several feeders I've put out, Thor immediately dashes down from his branch at top speed, chirping menacingly.  Hummingbirds can move at tremendous velocity when motivated.

Although the little fellow may be all of two inches long, when he's mad you can definitely hear it in his voice.  Not until he has driven the intruder away does he stop chirping and return to catching insects.  One morning I heard angry hummingbird noises quite close to where I was standing.  It was Thor, feistily explaining that I (thousands of times his size), was intruding into his territory.  Eventually I did leave.  Thor had defended his territory once again.

Sometime this week Mixed Meters achieved the ripe old age of nine years.  The actual birth date of this blog is September 16, 2005.  Leslie saw me working on this post and asked "How long have you been married to your blog?"  I'm not really sure what she meant.  I don't spend nearly as much time with my blog as I do with her.  For good reason.

My only anniversary celebration was to update the RedHeaders list.  There are now over 1300 of the little buggers, one of which was randomly displayed at the top of this page.

According to Google this is Mixed Meters' 700th post.  Other sources indicate that they are nearly correct.

Here's a picture of a crow.

I haven't given Mister (or Ms.) Crow a name.  I can't tell one crow from another.  They all look identical and they are very stand-offish.  Crows are not friendly to humans.

Crows thrive in our neighborhood.  I often see them foraging for food in small groups, so I guess they differ from hummingbirds in that they know how to get along with certain members of their own species.  And they grow quite large.  I've watched birds whose wingspan must have been close to two feet across.  In that sense they differ from hummingbirds as well.

Crows seem to dislike sitting in sunlight.  I suppose being such a dark black color, absorbing all that light, keeps crows toasty warm.  A picture of a crow in the shade shows few details.  This particular crow obligingly sat in full sun while I took his (or her) portrait from 20 feet below.

Our local crows don't claim territory the way little Thor does.  They don't squawk or attack intruders.  They simply move away.  I've read that crows are among the more intelligent species which live successfully in proximity to humans.

Just what, you may be wondering (and rest assured that I have been wondering the same thing) do a greedy mean little hummingbird in our driveway or a big black standoffish crow on a utility wire have to do with the anniversary of  Mixed Meters, the personal blog of a barely known nearly senior citizen musician who updates it only a few dozen times per year and which most people don't know about, let alone read?

The moral of the story might be that we should be careful about which light we choose to sit in when someone takes our picture.  Otherwise the camera won't see all our feathers.

TagLine[1306] = "Thinking those things which cannot be thought."
TagLine[1310] = "Place fear-inducing headline of your choice here."
TagLine[1312] = "Topped with aged Parmesan."
TagLine[1315] = "Today is malarkey day."
TagLine[1316] = "The truth is not out there."
TagLine[1317] = "Mixed Meters - Ignore it and it will go away."
TagLine[1318] = "Mixed Meters - lacking false pathos"
TagLine[1326] = "Mixed Meters - the only place in the entire universe that is all about me."
TagLine[1327] = "Damn, have we fucked things up, or what?"
TagLine[1328] = "I*m thinking of a number between four and six."

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Haven't had enough yet?  Here are some previous MM posts about animals:
Bird Brains of Pasadena (an old one, the pictures were taken two cameras ago)
What Is It Like to Be Dead  (one of MM's most often read posts)
Graffiti Animals of California
Russian Bestiary (pictures from Leslie's trip to Russia)
Stalking the Christmas Penguin

Pet Pictures

New camera.   Lots of work.  No time to blog.  What does that add up to?  Yes - it's a long overdue Mixed Meters' post with pictures of our pets.  Bloggers are supposed to publish pictures of their pets.  It's the law.

Dog.  Cat.  Another cat.  The line-up hasn't changed since Ivy died.  The dog: Chowderhead,  now with gray hairs amidst the red, chaser of the red rubber ball, always outside except under supervision.  The cats: siblings Crackle and Spackle, gray and white, big and small, afraid of strangers, always inside.

The two species never mingle because, frankly, we don't trust the dog.

CHOWDERHEAD

SPACKLE PUSS

CRACKLE POP

NOT PETS

Click on any picture for a larger view.

Crackle and Spackle were SO cute when we got them.