Male Rufous Hummingbirds

The Rufous hummingbirds arrived earlier this spring.  I usually begin putting out feeders when the Red current, a PacNW native, starts blooming.  We had a female at the feeder first, but now the males are much more visible and have tried to take command of the feeders.  If you put out feeders it's good to separate them by considerable distances so that a single male can't dominate all of your feeders. 

If you want to get photos of the males don't assume that you have all summer to perform the task.  The males will leave long before the females complete their breeding cycle and fledge their young.  Here are photos of some of the male Rufous hummingbirds around our feeders. 

This photo shows part of the male's gorget reflecting in the light. This can be a problem in photographing the bird because the light is so intense that details in the reflected gorget often get washed out. 

I didn't think this last photo was very good, but the interesting thing is that if you look closely you can see the hummingbird's head either through its wing feathers or between wing beats...