{"id":102846,"date":"2022-06-02T04:11:54","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T10:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=102846"},"modified":"2022-06-05T05:18:24","modified_gmt":"2022-06-05T11:18:24","slug":"male-black-chinned-hummingbird-in-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/02\/male-black-chinned-hummingbird-in-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Black-chinned Hummingbird In Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Black-chinned Hummingbird stretching his right wing \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 2500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I had a blast photographing a male Black-chinned Hummingbird high in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> even though the light was horrible. There were clouds. Plenty of them. And the temps were on the chilly side because of the cold front that recently dropped snow onto the mountains.<\/p>\n

The hummingbirds I found were active though and my Nikon D500 handles low light well.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Black-chinned Hummingbird jumping above a perch \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 2500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I made the best of the light I had to photograph this little flying jewel as he defended his territory and what appeared to be his favorite perch. I even photographed him jumping into the air.<\/p>\n

\"Black-chinnedBlack-chinned Hummingbird male with both wings stretched out \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 2500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And as he settled back onto the perch with his wings wide open and color showing on his flashy gorget. The gorget of male Black-chinned Hummingbirds looks purple when the light angle is just right. Even though the light was low yesterday I did catch some iridescence in some of my photos of this hummingbird.<\/p>\n

\"Black-chinnedBlack-chinned Hummingbird male on a cool spring morning \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 2500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

That iridescence doesn’t always show and when it doesn’t the males of this species appear to have a back chin hence their common name.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Black-chinned Hummingbird perched on an old willow branch \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

They also appear to have a black throat as well as their chins. This little male Black-chinned Hummingbird perched in several locations as he kept an eye on his territory, his food source and a nearby female.<\/p>\n

\"RestingResting male Black-chinned Hummingbird in spring \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

He kept coming back to this perch frequently enough that I suspect it is his favorite. The top of this dead willow branch isn’t very large in diameter. That seems to be perfect for his tiny hummingbird feet.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Black-chinned Hummingbird tilting his head \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The male Black-chinned Hummingbird looked around often as he watched for intruders. The few times other male hummingbirds flew in to his territory he chased them off quickly.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Black-chinned Hummingbird sticking out his tongue \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then he’d fly back in to land on his favorite perch where he preened, rested, cleaned his bill, fluffed his feathers and stuck his tongue out.<\/p>\n

\"Black-chinnedBlack-chinned Hummingbird lifting his wings \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 1600, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The low light conditions did make it hard to photograph the male Black-chinned Hummingbird while he hovered and fed on the nectar of the wildflowers. Most of the photos I took of him as he fed weren’t as sharp as the images I took of him perched.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Black-chinned Hummingbird resting on a thin branch \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 1600, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As challenging as it was to keep up with the male hummingbird’s movements in and around his territory in the flat lighting it was also rewarding to capture sharp images of him.<\/p>\n

\"HeadHead on male Black-chinned Hummingbird \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 1600, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I especially liked this head on photo of the male Black-chinned Hummingbird. The purple iridescence of his gorget showed nicely and his slightly opened, long slender bill looked foreshortened and stubby because of his head on pose.<\/p>\n

\"Black-chinnedBlack-chinned Hummingbird male showing his gorget \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 1600, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took hundreds of images of this male Black-chinned Hummingbird in the low light conditions and I was pleased with dozens and dozens of the resulting images.\u00a0 When it came time to leave I thanked this little male and I was grateful I spent time with him high in the mountains on a cloudy morning.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Black-chinned Hummingbird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning I had a blast photographing a male Black-chinned Hummingbird high in the Wasatch Mountains even though the light was horrible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1778,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,4460,1779,3940,6306,6043,2652,2655,12631,4062,4069,4104,12937,4156,9626,165,3964,6725,7910,5079,5498],"class_list":["post-102846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-black-chinned-hummingbirds","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-archilochus-alexandri","tag-black-chinned-hummingbird","tag-canyon","tag-head","tag-hummingbird","tag-hummingbirds-2","tag-jumping","tag-lifting","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-purple","tag-resting","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-spring","tag-stretching","tag-thicket","tag-tilting","tag-wing","tag-wings"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/black-chinned-hummingbird-adult-male-low-light-mia-mcpherson-2591.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qKO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90631,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/06\/21\/male-black-chinned-hummingbird-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":102846,"position":0},"title":"Male Black-chinned Hummingbird In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I had a male Black-chinned Hummingbird perched on top of a willow in my viewfinder for a few seconds while high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Black-chinned Hummingbird perched on top of a willow, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-chinned-hummingbird-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-6496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-chinned-hummingbird-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-6496.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Black-chinned Hummingbird Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I took my first Black-chinned Hummingbird of the year photos in the middle of May but it wasn't until the end of the month that I took some that I liked.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Black-chinned Hummingbird hovering by honeysuckle, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-chinned-hummingbird-adult-female-honeysuckle-mia-mcpherson-0495.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-chinned-hummingbird-adult-female-honeysuckle-mia-mcpherson-0495.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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