Brilliant birds

Hummingbirds are always in motion. Their wings beat at speeds of 70 to 80 beats per minute. They’re the only bird species known to fly backward. While other types of birds sit or perch to feed, hummingbirds get most of their diet from flower nectar and tree sap, which they sip with their long, sensitive tongues while hovering in flight.

Plymouth Harbor resident Dr. Lou Newman, a retired veterinarian and wildlife photographer, traveled in November to Ecuador to photograph hummingbirds with five other Florida photographers. The trip was his third visit to Ecuador, home to 130 hummingbird species, and his second visit to photograph hummingbirds there.

In his prior experience photographing the tiny birds, the wings came out blurred in the pictures because the camera couldn’t capture the high wing speed. This time, Newman and his fellow photographers used two setups developed by Cortez resident Ron Mayberry, who was also part of the group. The setup included 24 different backgrounds and camera flashes that could fire at 1/25,000 of a second. The photographers placed feeder in the tripod to attract the birds. The results: See all the colorful snapshots for yourself.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected]