Our local star and PPPS

Yesterday at the entrance to the Rose Center [Planetarium] of the American Museum of Natural History -- I met photographer Beth Bergman. She was photographing the Rufous Hummingbird -- our latest avian star --- and very kindly gave me permission to include any of her photos on this site. Below is a small selection of yesterday's photos.















The hummingbird was first discovered by Noah Burg on December 14. By the next day the local birding world was there, paying obeisance to this amazing little bird.

There's a big collection of shots of the Rufous Hummingbird on Beth Bergman's website -- http://thebethlenz.blogspot.com--Check it out. It's a great blog. Among other things, she provides fascinating observations of the bird's feeding methods.

PS The bird is feeding on a Mahonia bush. This is an evergreen shrub with an abundance of yellow blossoms that are providing sustenance for the hummingbird at the moment.

PPS Note the first photo in which the bird appears to be sitting on a leaf while feeding!

PPPS This posted at 12:18 today [Wednesday] on the NYSBirds blog:

For anyone interested, the hummingbird continues at the entrance to the 81st entrance to the American Museum of Natural History. It is currently flycatching in the flowerbed on the left (east) side of the planitarium entrance and allows excellent study.  Angus Wilson, New York City & The Springs, NY