The birds and the bees

We have a great backyard with plenty of flowering plants that are a haven for bees and hummingbirds. I enjoy sitting out on our patio, placing the large birding lens on the tripod, and watching all the action (of course with a steaming cup of morning coffee). There are several types of bees and hummingbirds. We have the 'patrol' hummingbirds which zoom in from anywhere, anytime another hummingbird gets close to the feeder or any of the flowers, as hummingbirds in general are very territorial. Depending on the time of year, we can have rufus hummingbirds, black-chinned hummingbirds, and several other types.  We  have several types of bees as well: gigantic bumblebees, honey bees, and several others. I find it challenging to photograph all of this extremely fast motion and get the photo that I'm looking for (or even sometimes the photo that I didn't know I wanted). When reviewing the images, I'm sometimes surprised and excited to see the final result. There is both a bird and a bee in each photo; you may have to look closely.




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