Sunday, March 5, 2017

Super Hummingbirds by Nature a Mesmerizing Video

Super Hummingbirds
One of my favorite things about spring is the arrival of hummingbirds. As the temperatures outside begin to warm, I have begun to wonder about putting my hummingbird feeder outside. I'm not sure how early is too early.  As I putter around this morning doing household chores, it was by sheer luck that I flipped the television channel to a public television channel as they were showing Super Hummingbirds.  If you are interested in hummingbirds, as I am, you must see this film. It is mesmerizing.

Super Hummingbirds by Nature


Through slow motion cinematography, high speed camera work, and new technology, we are able to watch some of the smallest details of the lives of hummingbirds. The movie describes and shows migration, mating, eating, nest building, and more. This is the second hummingbird film by Ann Johnson Prun, emmy award winning filmmaker. This film is so detailed that it brings us new scientific information about hummingbirds such as how they drink nectar so quickly and how the survive in high altitudes.

A male hummingbird dances in flight, flashing his brilliant feathers at a female. Trying to woo her by raising his mantel of bright purple feathers.

We watch as a hummingbird female builds a delicate nest and lay her eggs. During the PBS interveiw with the filmmaker that I'm watching, Ms.Johnson Prun reports that the egg is the size of a tic-tac. This tiny bird, in her little nest on the back of a leaf, hatches her babies.  In another nest, we watch a different species of humming bird raise her babies until they are old enough to shakily leave the nest.

The cinematography is so detailed and clear, that we are able to hear their chirps and watch these tiny hummingbirds as they hunt for and catch teeny flying insects. We watch these insects, the size of specks of dust. as the birds catches them. I could not take my eyes from the movie.

Really, I do not have sufficient words to describe how amazing this video is. How detailed it is. How we watch the rain drops land on the hummingbird and how the hummingbird shakes it off.  How brightly iridescent the feathers are and how we can see each individual feather.

I will leave you with this little video clip and encourage you to see the complete film. And I think I'll fill and hang the feeder, and see if I can attract them earlier than May, which is when I notice my first visitors each year.



*This article may contain affiliate links. If you shop via one of the affiliate links, I may earn a small commission - at no additional cost to you.  I am very appreciative of every reader who visits my articles. Thank you.