Here is my Gambel's Quail, which looks very similar to Gayle's California Quail.  I took this photo in Southeast Arizona, where they would come creeping cautiously out of the desert brush to feed on the ground below a set of feeders.  You had to stay very still, because they spooked easily.

Really beautiful shots.  The don't make me want to put down my camera, they make me want to get better with it.

I suspect the photographer was using a really long telephoto lens, maybe a 500mm f2.8 to get such nicely blurred backgrounds.  I'd love to know what the lighting conditions were like.  It looks like bright natural light, but some of the shots look like a point light source such as a flash might have been used.  Whatever he did, he did it right!

Jim, I had scrolled through the forum's comments yesterday, and while I didn't look for clues about his technique, equipment, etc., I did note this comment from him:

"Thanks, Chris. They like to bathe daily in the fountain. You have to understand that we have over 500 hummingbirds come daily to our feeders during nesting season."

As you know...lots of opportunities to take photos creates better odds of getting a good one, and it sounds like he has lots of opportunities there!

I have to say that one of my very favorites is the one getting in a good scratch with his right leg. Somehow a thing you know all birds do, but you never think of a hummingbird that way.
Thank you for this!  dale

I've spent so much time hummingbird watching in the back yard that I'm aware that hummingbirds spend an awful lot of time scratching.  When they're not looking for intruders, making defensive territorial forays, drinking nectar, or chasing bugs, they're scratching.

Patti

When you are on the voting page, if you click on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of each logo, it will display a larger version of it.

When I do that, the larger image scoots off the top of the page-I can see just a bit of the bottom of the logos.  And the page can't be scrolled.  

Ei

Ei, I found (quite through trial and error), that you can drag the enlarged image down to where you can see it.

I get an error, no can see! 404 not found.

Have you tried again Donna?  The link works for me today...

And the dead ones -- it's sad, but real.  Of course, they just might be worn out from a sugar high...no, I guess not. 

Anne in Toronto

Since the fellow didn't put captions on the photos, it's hard to tell what's going on here, but I'm guessing he has a really high-speed camera very capable of stopping action, and so it's entirely possible that he just captured those birds in the act of bathing enthusiastically.  Since hummingbirds can't walk (wimpy feet; they can only perch), they take baths by rubbing against a wet surface, such as the fountain in the photos (in my yard I'm seen them rub against wet leaves after a rain.  So even though I'm probably being pollyanna-ish, I like to think they're not dead but are simply rolling around in the water; eyes may be closed to protect them.

Anyway, that's my explanation and I'm sticking to it! 

Very nice, Ginha...thanks!

This is a funky-looking Pyrrhuloxia (not to imply that this one is particular in that regard; they are all funky-looking).  If you're not familiar with them you can probably tell that they are in the same genus as the Northern Cardinal.

The bird in front, who stopped just short of a whirlyhead, is a House Finch, sharing the feeder with the Pyrrhuloxia.

I took this photo in Southeast Arizona.

Here is one more Pukeko from New Zealand, this one taken right in Christchurch.

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The Pukeko may have to wait until tomorrow night; I've almost reached my bedtime...

But here's my final entry for the night (morning?): the Black-capped Parakeet.

I took this photo from a canopy tower in Peru.

Prothonotary Warbler

It's one of my favorite birds; I saw it for the first time this past May on the shores of Lake Erie.  They were very active, foraging for insects all around, seemingly unfazed by all of the gawking humans.

[P]

Well...it may not be a better photo, but a cuteness alert may be in order.

This is a White-tailed Ptarmigan; we took the photos hiking in Glacier National Park.  The first is mother Ptarmigan, and the second are her two chicks, to whom Mom was clucking softly.

And P, of course, is for Peregrine Falcon (waiting for Donna and some more Kaver photos).

This is Rhea Mae from the 2006 Falcon Watchers Weekend.

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Wow, you chicks are on a roll tonight!  You collectively have saved me from having to dig through my Galapagos and New Zealand photo albums for the Pukeko and Penguins. 

OK...P is for Ptarmigan (and I don't know which one this is...maybe Willow Ptarmigan.  It was taken in Denali National Park, Alaska.

I think I have a slightly better shot elsewhere...need to dig around.

These are perhaps the most spectacular hummingbird photos I've ever seen...makes we want to hang up my camera permanently!

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