The Chase

Gallery: AvianPosted October 13, 20171,910 views16 comments

Here is another image from my humming bird vs. bee interaction from the other day. Again, I wasn't working with really any light, and no flash, so this was the best i think I could pull off considering the circumstances.

1DX, 500mm f/4, 1.4 TC, 1/1250 at f/8, ISO 3200, exp comp +2/3

Comments

16 comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on October 13, 2017 at 6:55 PM

Fabulous, Kurt. Best available light of a hummer I have ever seen. And the bee makes it all the better. Kudos, sir!

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on October 13, 2017 at 6:58 PM

This looks fine to me, Kurt. The body and bee are both nice and crisp and I prefer blur in hummer wings. An interesting interaction. We often have bees and wasps on our feeders and I don't recall ever seeing this kind of interaction.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on October 13, 2017 at 7:51 PM

Excellent! Great action and nice simplicity.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on October 13, 2017 at 10:03 PM

Another winner here Kurt. Still can't believe that you captured both in focus. Awesome job.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on October 14, 2017 at 5:45 AM

Well, Kurt, wonder if it's going to be better than this.. Awesome shot, great to have the insect and the eye of the hummer sharp.. devil

.. Great work ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on October 14, 2017 at 11:27 AM

Hey Kurt,
Your such a Show-Off . . . enlightened

This is too Cool !

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Shirley Freeman on October 14, 2017 at 1:32 PM

What a stop action shot, Kurt! Very impressive, with both the bee and the hummer in focus. Perfect timing.

Registered on May 27, 2017, 77 Posts, 844 Comments

Comment posted by Peter J. Morrissey on October 14, 2017 at 4:14 PM

Hi Kurt
Vary nice work on a hard bird to photograph.
Peter

Registered on July 3, 2011, 188 Posts, 969 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on October 14, 2017 at 6:06 PM

This is amazing with the bee, great job catching this in so little light Kurt, did the hummingbird catch the bee? I kind of doubt it but I had to ask.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on October 14, 2017 at 9:12 PM

The background in this image really helps keep this from being uninteresting. I think you had a lot of good light which only goes to show that you don't necessarily need a major flash set up to take pictures of hummingbirds. All you need is enough light to get a fast enough shutter speed. And generally, I find you can probably approach them at fairly close distance which will help by reducing your need for such high iso. Most of my hummingbird shots are done at iso 800 and 1250th of the second at f10 with a 500 mm or 600 mm telephoto. I don't always use a flash.The sun does a good enough job.]

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Ingrid Vekemans on October 15, 2017 at 5:04 AM

Great timing, excellent photography. Top shot, Kurt! devil

Grt, Ingrid.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 138 Posts, 780 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on October 16, 2017 at 11:06 AM

Pretty awesome to get them in the same focal plane like this. Really well done, Kurt.

And congrats on Nature's Best, btw.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on October 16, 2017 at 10:15 PM

Thanks for the comments.

Nate - No, he didn't catch him, but he actually came really close on one try. The fight wasn't one sided, the bee was trying to sting the hummer as well.

Max, thanks and a huge congratulations to you on Nature's Best! Outstanding work!!!!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on October 21, 2017 at 8:00 AM

Congrats and awesome capture. The hummingbird is defending its nectar supply from one of its competitors. I've seen some incredible dog fights with hummingbirds versus bees, yellow jackets, and hornets. Well done...................Jim