Color morphing and tiny WOW!

Great day, some sunshine, some clouds.
Right outside the front door, kielbasa (Polish sausage). Delicious.

First variation of orange/ black,.. the redstart flitting around.

That morphed into an oriole dining on buds in the brambles.

That morphed into the blast of red, a tanager also eating buds in the brambles.

I did a lot of roaming after that, nothing spectacular till I got to the Azalea Pond. First there was another redstart and then something caught my eye, the biggest surprise. A hummingbird, a male ruby-throated hummer. I'd never before seen a hummer in May and I'd never before seen a mature male. I almost had a coronary. Could this be a figment of my imagination? Gotta get a picture! Gotta get evidence! I stopped breathing. This was more than I could cope with, a jewel in low light behind leaves in fast movement. It's hard enough getting hummingbird pictures let alone in shade and in a state of shock. It's a miracle I didn't start shaking. I jacked the ISO up to 640 and prayed. Images not great, but it's an honest-to-God ruby-throated male. Only after I got a few images did my mouth utter, "Hummer!" Others looked and got to see it fleetingly.

I sort of went into shock after that. Nothing could be better than a hummer in May. The next time I won't go so freaky because I'll know it's possible. This was an astonishing WOW!

I strolled out onto the point and saw a few more birds- the magnolia warbler doing the usual acrobatics.

The canada warbler playing peek-a-boo, obviously on a caffeine high.

Shortly after this I headed home. The hummingbird had wiped out my energy. Nothing would have topped that, so I decided to store up energy for another day.

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