Sunday 14 October 2012

Macro Monday - Shimmering Jewels of the Cloud Forest

I have recently spent three weeks in the rainforest and cloud forest of Ecuador. Now, before you all start chirping on about how lucky I am, I would like to point out that most of the time I was running around looking after 17 students and worrying about what they might do next to maim, injure or kill themselves. It was an exhausting experience, let me tell you. Still, we managed to get all 17 students home, all in one piece, and no law suits are pending, so the trip can now be declared a success.


I did manage to get a couple of peaceful, if very rainy days, all to myself in the cloud forest. It was beautiful bliss. The rain was a blessing - I finally had an excuse to do nothing for hours on end. And, the best part, hummingbirds apparently don't care about the rain. These shimmering jewels of the cloud forest went about their frenetic activity despite the torrents of rain falling from the leaden skies. What a joy they were, streaks of bright, radiant colour darting and flitting through the air, lighting up the dark forest like random Christmas lights strung up on the trees all around. Miniature rainbows, vibrating the air with their impossibly fast wings, making the air sing their song with no words.


I just loved every single one of the feisty, fierce, seemingly fragile fragments of light and beauty.


I did not love how difficult it was to capture the beauty of the fast little buggers with my camera. That was as frustrating as trying to pass a camel through the eye of a needle!

For more Macro Monday, go here.

P.S. I think these little spitfires are Tyrian metaltails, but I could be wrong. My bird ID is about as bad as my DIY - no, I take that back. Nothing is as bad as my DIY!


15 comments:

Jay at The Depp Effect said...

Hahahahaa! That made me laugh 'I did not love how difficult it was to capture the little buggers .. !' LOL!

I have never seen a humming bird. I have been in the right locations, several times, but no humming birds have appeared. Not just me being unable to spot them, because I've been with seasoned humming bird spotters. They just don't seem to be there for me. *Sob*

One day. One day my humming bird will come. ;)

Beautiful photos, as usual. Those gorgeous green feathers!!

jatta said...

Lovely photos.

Min fotogen said...

Vad vacker colibri, härliga färger!

Stewart M said...

What great birds! And what great pictures!

I was once in charge of 13 students on a trip to Japan - I did not think it would be possible to count to 13 so often in a single day - and then keep doing it for two weeks!

Stewart M - Australia

Molly said...

Great images... I have found birds to really tricky models to work with on the whole.

Mollyxxx

Pat said...

Fantastic images! I love the iridescent sheen of their feathers which you have captures with such detail.

carol l mckenna said...

Wow! What delightful bird ~ and excellent photography ~ (A Creative Harbor) ^_^

Don't Bug Me! said...

Thanks everyone!

Jay: The bird lodge I was staying at was amazing - it was just humming with birds! They have over 40 feeders, which they have to refill 3 times a day. And the birds would let you walk right up to them. I also have them in my garden, but not quite as many or as tame!

Stewart: We tried to get our students to count themselves by assigning them each a number. I think they finally got the hang of it by the last day!

Carole said...

Gorgeous photos, DBM! I love how you capture the minute details of the plumage.

Suldog said...

Pretty damn amazing, to me, that you were able to capture any clear shots at all! They move so fast!

Don't Bug Me! said...

Thanks Carole!

Suldog: It was also amazing that my camera didn't decide to quit and call it a day due to the rain!

Kate said...

Absolutely FABULOUS!
When I've finished the Godwit Series, and the Dotterel Series, and the Snapper Series, I'm going to Ecuador to collect reference photos for the Hummingbird Series.

Don't Bug Me! said...

Katherine: Let me know when and I will send you the details of the lodge we stayed at - you can sit in one spot all day and the hummingbirds will come to you.

Kate said...

This sounds a perfectly marvelous idea DBM!

Anonymous said...

This is an awesome macro shot. Simply perfect. Birds are truly a great subject.
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