some surprise company

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I love when I’m taking macro shots of flowers and get startled by some teeny tiny bug crawling around… of course, then it becomes a huge challenge to get a shot with the little buggers in focus! And I’m pretty sure that the smaller the bug, the faster they crawl. To be honest, the ants weren’t surprise guests as I knew it was that time for them to crawling around my peony buds– but this has shocked me in the past so it sort of counts ;) But I certainly didn’t see the orange spidery things or the red bug until I was looking through the macro lens– they are so small you may need to click the pic to get a better view, and maybe find your reading glasses.

Ah!! Ah!!

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Yes, on Saturday, I was so excited I could not form words.  I glanced out my kitchen window, down towards all of my bird feeders, and had to do a double-take… “What’s that big black bug by the hummingbird feeder?”  oh, oH? OH!!!  It’s a hummingbird!!!  And… gone.

So then Sunday, I spot it again!  But alas, it disappeared before I could get my camera together because of course, I’d just gotten home from a museum and the 35mm was on the camera and we were never going to see it taken with that! So I fumbled around and got the 300mm on and again… gone.

Tonight, home from work… standing at the window, camera loaded up with the 300mm in hand, waiting. and waiting. and waiting.  (ok, it was really only like 5 minutes, but I was hungry and time flows really slow then).  I give up and decide to finish getting dinner ready so I put the camera on the desk, walk back into the kitchen and glance out (by the end of summer I’m going to develop a nervous tick for as much as I jerk to look out my windows to look at birds) and AH! it’s back!  Run to get cam again, run back (it’s like 20 feet) and snap snap snap snap!  Success!!

While these aren’t the best, I’m still pretty rocked by my first capture of hummingbird!  And that I’ve had one three days in a row.  And pretty sure I have seen two because the first one was definitely darker than this one.  Tomorrow I might stop to see if I can still snag some $3 feeders to hang all over my yard, and hopefully I’ll be able to attract enough that they will hang out while I’m outside and get a bit closer so I don’t have to crop so heavy :)