Hummie fly-by

It had to be a hummingbird today...when I went out on the deck to have my tea, they were buzzing all over the garden, begging to be photographed.  And, if I am not mistaken, there was another recently fledged juvenile in the bunch - if so, that is at least the second very late fledge.  Which leads me to think that some of the adult females had two broods this year.  Very interesting and, in my experience, unusual this far north.  

I chose this photo simply because you can see the size of the hummer relative to the average zinnia.  Taken with my trusty Big Daddy (Tamron 200-500) on the D750. handheld at 1/640, f/7.1, ISO 1250.  And although I fully expect to take more photos before the day is over, I am quite happy posting this one as my "one" photo of the day.  It will be nice to look at this during the long, cold, dark winter!  

I posted five other shots (four hummies and one "twirl") on Flickr, starting HERE if you would care to have a look.  

In Monarch Mom news...Cats #1 and # 2 are getting quite large and eating like little troopers.  Cat #3 shed his skin last night and all that was left when I checked him this morning was his tiny face-plate - I had to crop the heck out of this because, even with a macro lens, the face was just incredibly tiny.  Anyway, #3 is back to eating and pooping in his nice fresh skin.  I'm only guessing, but I think he is in his 4th instar now.  And in case you are wondering, my poor hubs is much less enthralled with the monarch project than I am - he refused to look at the fade, if you can imagine that!  haha.

TTFN...