Sharon & I are enjoying an explosion of young HY hummers buzzing us nearly at every corner of The Ranch. We have a high-top table on the deck where we like to have our coffee breaks during the day. One of the six hummingbird feeders is located there, about four feet from Sharon’s head. The last couple of days, it’s been hard to have a conversation, the buzzing is so loud. It’s like a tennis match, though, as we watch all the kids chase each other all over the place. Last evening, the first immature HY Calliope appeared (NA smallest at 3″), and it fell hard for Sharon. It perches right next to her, barely leaving to feed. It seems quite habituated already, permitting me to stand up and move to make the shot. But it’s a running joke around the house right now with all the activity. “Honey, who’s watching the kids?”

They got their name from their storing vast quantities of Acorns that they feed on throughout the year. Whole trees appear to have been shot up by machine gun fire, but upon closer examination, you find they are holes filled with Acorns. Living in the western oak forests, they are in a colony, each with separate duties, from guard to raising the young. They are continually talking to each other, continually, I wish I could understand them as it’s quite a conversation. At Madera Canyon, they keep up company as we photograph the hummingbirds. And at times when there is a shortage of water, they visit the feeders to drink. As you can see, the hummingbird feeder isn’t really made for a woodpecker, but they can get their tongue into the small slots as they hang on. They are fun to watch and photograph. The Acorn Woodpeckers are quite the characters.

The fawns here at The Ranch are just a tad over a month old now. One was dropped right next to the house this year, but we didn’t find it until it walked off. It’s a good year, we have two sets of twins and two singles, and starting about ten days ago, they started to spend time with us when we are out and about the property. It seems about once a week or so, play day is at the back of our home on the grass. We’ve caught the five or six fawns bouncing about for fifteen to twenty minutes as the does are off to the side, just watching. The fawns seem to play chase, tag, relays, and almost any running game you can think of. They are so much fun to watch and it doesn’t matter if it’s 05:00, 22:30, highnoon or pouring rain. When it’s time to play, it’s time to play! A couple of times, all this activity has drawn in some big bucks. They look on for a moment, seemingly reminiscing about when they were fawns, only to come back to thought and wander on. And when it ends, it ends as if the recess bell has rung. And at that moment, they all go to their appropriate utter and drink. We love this time of year as there’s frolicking going on.

You might have been at it for days, and still only a pic here and there. It seems every time you have the hummer in the viewfinder, focus sharp, and the arrangement of elements just perfect, you push the shutter release only to capture an empty frame. That’s because these speeding bullets might change direction, or more often, are being chased or are chasing another hummer the moment you want the photograph. It can get to ya I’m here to tell you!

Then, for the hundredth time, it all seems to align in the viewfinder, and you go to press the shutter release, and the hummer is still there! You take a second, third, fifth, tenth shot, and the hummer is still there in the viewfinder! It’s dancing for the camera providing angles and attitude and lots of color! The hummer in your viewfinder is just hovering in place, giving you the thrill of a lifetime, a moment you can’t believe your eyes, you’re enjoying. And then as soon as it came, it’s gone, but you count your good fortune. It’s why I keep going out over and over again. it’s the joys of wildlife photography! Cause after all the failures, the moment comes.

The Mountain Goat is an amazing critter that literally hangs out in some of the most rugged and inaccessible locales in North America’s northern regions. For many years last decade, we would travel to Glacier Nat’l Park to have opportunities to be with them. Now, they literally live in our backyard, that’s if you can go vertical seven thousand feet. These billys were over in the Gallentins doing what Goats do at least once a day, if not twice, and that’s to come down to water. The high perches where they spend most of their day tend to be quite dry once the summer sun comes. There’s very little, if any, free water, so they go to the water. They still had their winter coats last month when I photographed them, making the summer heat even more intense. Making shots so they look their best and not moth-eaten is a challenge.

Photographing them in all their splendor with full, clean, white coats has long been a desire of mine. Finding the local in winter where I can make that happen has been though unsuccessful so far, which is a disappointment. Hopefully, we can make that happen. Until then, I take enjoyment in seeing them when I can during the long summer in white.

Many of us have experienced the hummingbird feeding frenzy at a feeder. There always seems to be one hummer that spends most of its time chasing the other hummers away. At Madera Canyon, you have a hundred hummers wanting to feed, so there are many hummers trying to claim the feeders as theirs. The bedlam can be dizzying! This makes for great flying hummer photography opportunities. And if you look carefully, you’ll see those individuals who take a different tack to the whole process. This immature Black-chinned is one of those individuals. I have no doubt it’s just my imagination, but at times, it seemed to try to bullying with body gestures, and at other times, misdirect chasers to pursue an individual so it could eat unharrassed. I watched it do this multiple times from different perches. The one time it selected a perch where I had a clear shot, I had already seen its antics, so I was ready for them. The whole time I watched it, in my mind it was saying to every hummer, mine, mine, mine!