TomKal foto

Hummingbirds-text common to species photographed in Ecuador
According to Miles McMullan's book 'The Guide to the Hummingbirds', there are between 330 and 360 species of hummingbirds in the world and as many as 129 species of them in Ecuador. Hummingbirds are found from Alaska in North America to the south of South America. So there are more than 30 per cent of hummingbird species there on two mighty continents, and in the small area of Ecuador in comparison. They are indeed almost everywhere in Ecuador, and at least during our entire stay, we gave them daily sightings. Roadside restaurants almost always have hummingbird drinkers. While waiting for a meal, we were never bored because there was always something going on at the feeders and photos were being taken. The contact with nature is so close that in one such place we took a break for lunch and while eating soup not far from the hummingbird feeders, one of the hummingbirds sat on my forearm and watched what I was doing. An amazing encounter, an amazing contact with nature.  In yet another, I was standing in front of a hummingbird drinker, almost motionless trying to get a dynamic picture of a hummingbird, while another wanted to check the cleanliness of my ear. I can assure you that it is an unpleasant feeling to hear the swish of its feathers an inch or two from your ear, and to be aware that it will slip its long beak into your ear. You have to refrain from the reflex that accompanies a mosquito or fly in such a situation, and so wave your hand vigorously. This could be fatal to the hummingbird. Just move your head vigorously and the bird will fly away. By holding a flower in hand in such places, you can count on the hummingbird to sit on it and check for the sometimes tasty nectar. We shot such short films and sent them to Poland "with greetings" from Ecuador . Could there be a more beautiful 'postcard' with holiday greetings? Despite the close contact with hummingbirds, photography is not easy. I am not thinking of photos of hummingbirds drinking from or sitting on plastic containers. I'm thinking of dynamic photos in flight of these amazing sky acrobats. The photography itself is worthwhile if it is preceded by a brief observation of the species there. It often happens that one of them is a dominant species, very territorial and behaves in a characteristic, predictable way. These species are always easier to photograph. They sometimes fly up to a few centimetres from the drinker, hover in the air for a second, two or three, make sure it is safe, then start their sweet meal. This moment is a situation in which dynamic photographs can be created. Likewise with the flowers situated near the existing drinkers. The birds hover near them and sip the sweet water artificially left there. These are the predictable species. There are, however, some that suddenly fly out of the bushes straight to the drinkers, feed and as quickly as they appeared, they disappear. With these, humans hardly stand a chance. Just like the aerial quarrels, the hummingbirds skirmish. They are so fast, the movement of two individuals so synchronous, that one can only stop to observe. Photographing such a quarrel is pure coincidence. In the end, 41 species of hummingbirds were photographed during the entire trip to Ecuador. All of them have the present text posted, and only the Giant hummingbird and the Ecuadorian Hillstar, have the text expanded with individual information. I have marked this as a double T-"TT".