The Earth Story

timlaman

Video by @TimLaman.  A male Costa’s Hummingbird feeding at aloe flowers.  This is shot in slow motion at 75fps, but these hummingbirds are so fast that you can hardly tell it is slowed down by 3x.  Filmed as part of my project documenting the birdlife of the Sunnylands Center and Gardens, a sanctuary in Rancho Mirage, California.  See my exhibit there through June if you are in the Palm Springs / Coachella Valley area

• Video by @TimLaman | A female Costa’s hummingbird visits Hesperaloe flowers at the Sunnylands Center and Gardens, Rancho Mirage, California. I love filming with beautiful early morning backlighting, and using slow motion to bring the hummingbird action a bit closer to human speed. I’m always amazed by the precision with which these masters of flight can control their position in the air: wings beating furiously but holding their bill perfectly steady to feed on delicate flowers. Shot in 6K to capture all that wonderful detail. #hummingbird #slowmotion #california #backlight #TL_wildlifephototips. See more of my wildlife photos and videos @TimLaman.

• Video @filipe_deandrade @brianmoghari // To our eyes, there's no way to breakdown what is happening here. But at 2,800 frames per second, you can see this male Talamanca Hummingbird push off this female from a flower. What does 2,800 frames per second mean? What happens 1 second plays out at over 1.5 minutes...that's super slo-mo! Hummingbirds live their lives at a constant state of friction because they need to consume almost their body weight in calories every day. That means a lot of fighting and feeding. Dis you see her tongue stick out there at the end trying to catch one last drop of nectar? To see more of this drama play out in "Untamed Costa Rica," check out the Untamed facebook page. See y'all there wildlife warriors. Follow @filipe_deandrade for more wildlife adventures. #costarica

natgeowild

natgeo

Video by

@TimLaman | Costa’s and rufous hummingbirds visit ocotillo flowers in Coachella Valley, California. One of the projects I was lucky enough to be able to work on this year was documenting the birdlife at the Sunnylands sanctuary near Palm Springs, where I shot this video. If you’re in the Palm Springs area this winter, check out the full exhibit at the Sunnylands Center and Gardens.  If not, hope these hummingbirds brighten your day, and if you’d like to see more from this project, head over to

@TimLaman

natgeo

Video by

@TimLaman

| Costa’s Hummingbird – Hesperaloe flowers – early morning backlighting, Coachella Valley, California. I’m grateful this holiday season for the beauty of nature and the time I get to spend in it. I hope the imagery I share brightens your day in a small way and inspires you to help preserve nature around us. Video excerpt from my video and print exhibition at the Sunnylands Center and Gardens near Palm Springs, California, on exhibit all winter. If you’re not near Palm Springs, please come over to

@TimLaman

to see more from this project.  

cornellbirdcams Rivoli's Hummingbirds are one of the largest hummingbirds found north of Mexico, second only in size to Blue-throated Hummingbirds. In this clip, watch a female Rivoli's displace a male Black-chinned Hummingbird on the left side of the feeder. See them in action LIVE at AllAboutBirds.org/TexasHummers 

natgeowild 🎥 by @filipe_deandrade | Filming hummingbirds is like speed-dating. Only you introduce 40 pots of coffee and a lot more rejections. These brilliant dashes of color are the fiery-throated hummingbirds of Costa Rica. I filmed them at almost 9,000ft elevation in the Talamanca mountain range. @brianmoghari and I used a slow motion camera capable of stretching 1 second out to 2 minutes. Think about that for a second (or 2 minutes). You and I doing anything in that kind of slo-mo would look more like a still frame. Yet these creatures can beat their wings over 40 times per second with a heart rate of over 1,000 beats per minute. That’s why even in super slo-mo, they still look like the graceful aerial ballerina ninja warriors they are. Because they move that quick, they have one of the highest metabolisms in the animal kingdom. What extraordinary creatures they are. And they are natural pollinators so their presence is not only fun to observe, but incredibly important. Is it starting to sound like I’m obsessed with hummingbirds yet? Thats because I am! Even though they reject all my advances of getting closer, better and more detailed shots. “One way Love street” thats the only speed dating I subscribe to.

• natgeo Video @ladzinski / ▶️🔊 If you’re a #hummingbird living in the tropics, rain is just an opportunity to take a shower. Once the weather breaks however it’s back to business. Hummingbirds generally eat twice their body weight in nectar per day, that’s a lot of work and quite competitive near flower blooms in Colombia’s #SantaMarta mountains.

wildlife.hd. video by @hummingbirdsxoxo Luke, a male Annas Hummingbird

• natgeo Video by @Filipe_DeAndrade @brianmoghari and @mckenziebarney | While they’re excellent natural pollinators and extremely beneficial to their environment, the ruby-throated hummingbird makes it quite a challenge to get a great shot. But it’s a fun challenge. For this adventure we wanted to film them on their migratory path back to Central America for the winter. We knew that at that point on their migration they would be extra aggressive and territorial over food sources since they have to travel over 500 miles without stopping. There was a lot of coffee and a lot of nectar drank on this shoot. Check out the entire sequence in my series #WildUntamed on natgeowild.com/untamed or click the link in my personal bio.