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Red Rubber Ball
Oro Valley, Arizona
2023

I’m not planning on posting any more hummingbird photos, right now anyway. But towards the same end of the size spectrum, and certainly very competitive in terms of the cute factor given its bright color, here’s a photo of a vermilion flycatcher taken in the same tree as yesterday’s hummingbird photo.

When I see a vermilion flycatcher posed like this I can’t help but think of the song “Red Rubber Ball” recorded by the Cyrkle back in 1966. I did not know until searching for the song on Google just now that it was actually written by Paul Simon (with Bruce Woodley of The Seekers), but he and Art Garfunkel never record it on a studio album, although a recording of a live performance in 1967 appears on their “Old Friends” anthology album released in 1997.

Hummer #4
Oro Valley, Arizona
2023

I put this image in this collection mainly to show that it is in fact possible to photograph hummingbirds “in the wild” rather than at a feeder. Granted, they’re typically further away–this one was in a tree about 30′ away–so it takes a long telephoto plus a generous amount of cropping to get it done. But it’s doable, thanks in larger part to the current availability of some really good camera sensors as well as software for processing.

Hummer #3
Oro Valley, Arizona
2023

Hummer #2
Oro Valley, Arizona
2023

At one point I thought I might try to identify the different species of hummingbirds that were visiting our feeder in Arizona. While it’s in my nature to research such things to learn more about them, in the case of the hummingbirds I made the decision to simply enjoy them rather than analyze them. That’s worked pretty well for me so far, but I’m still tempted to do the ID thing, and probably will one of these days.

Hummer #1
Oro Valley, Arizona
2023

We hung a small hummingbird feeder on at the place we rented in Arizona in January and February, and were quickly rewarded with much company to entertain us while sitting on the patio. I’d sit out there in the afternoons with a cup of tea and my camera and telephoto lens taking way too many photos of them.

Free Dance
Bozeman, Montana
2023

A while back I saw a photo online of a set of about a dozen twigs a that someone had collected that looked like stick figures in various poses. They had placed them all in a grid pattern on a white background and then photographed the group together so you could see all the various “poses” together. It was nice concept and well executed. (Unfortunately I don’t remember where I saw it, probably on Instagram, so can’t post a link too it.) I imagined at the time that it must have taken them quite some time to collect all those figure-like twigs, but my experience the next day perhaps suggests otherwise. On my usual walk through the neighborhood, without trying or even thinking about the stick figure idea, I saw this figure “dancing” across the the sidewalk in front of me. So I brought it home and photographed it with part of a J. M. W. Turner painting as a background.

It’s interesting how a rather quick view of that photo of stick figures subconsciously affected my own way of seeing the world–at least for a day anyway. It’s similar, I guess, to the effect I get from spending time in an art museum–when I leave, everything outside looks like art to me for a while. I’ve been quite successful with using that mindset to my advantage if I happen to be carrying my camera at the time.

Oxymoron
Tombstone, Arizona
2023

With an emphasis on the moron part.

Anger Management Needed
Tombstone, Arizona
2023

Bad Boy
Tombstone, Arizona
2023

The Other Side of the Tracks
Tombstone, Arizona
2023

In spite of it’s rough and tumble frontier reputation, Tombstone had or at least has a more genteel side as well.