{"id":69122,"date":"2020-04-27T04:39:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T10:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=69122"},"modified":"2025-06-13T14:43:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T19:43:58","slug":"wax-currants-broad-tailed-hummingbirds-and-their-favorite-perches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/27\/wax-currants-broad-tailed-hummingbirds-and-their-favorite-perches\/","title":{"rendered":"Wax Currants, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds And Their Favorite Perches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BloomingBlooming Wax Currant in the Wasatch Mountains – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

In just a matter of days Wax Currants will start to bloom in some of the lower elevations of the mountains that aren’t far from where I live and that has me excited. I enjoy seeing these flowering and fruiting shrubs in bloom but I also know that when they are in bloom I can have great opportunities photographing hummingbird sipping nectar from the blossoms, guarding their territory and buzzing around the shrubs. The blooms also bring me many opportunities with the butterflies that feed on the nectar.<\/p>\n

Hummingbirds often have favorite perches within their territories and knowing that has increased my chances of photographing them resting, preening, lifting off and landing on those perches plus action shots when they defend their territories.<\/p>\n

\"Broad-tailedBroad-tailed Hummingbird male resting on a favorite perch – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year I spent a morning photographing several Broad-tailed Hummingbirds near just one Wax Currant bush and since then I have identified other areas where these currants are abundant and that are close enough to the shoulders of back roads where I should be able to park, wait and photograph hummingbirds to my heart’s content.<\/p>\n

As a bird photographer I’ve found that it helps me if I pay attention to the environment I am in and to take stock of the plants, shrubs and trees in the areas I travel to especially if they provide food or shelter for my feathered friends.<\/p>\n

There are approximately 11 native currant and gooseberry shrubs that grow in Utah and many if not all of them are attractive to hummingbirds when they are in bloom. The trick is to know when they are flowering because they don’t stay in bloom very long although the currants and gooseberries do bloom later in the season at higher elevations than those at lower elevations.<\/p>\n

Finding birds to photograph isn’t just about “seeing” the birds, it is also about having in depth knowledge about the birds and being aware of their diet and habitat preferences.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

In just a matter of days Wax Currants will start to bloom in some of the lower elevations of the mountains that aren’t far from where I live and that has me excited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148442,"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":[27,2340,1731,358,26,773,1314],"tags":[4004,6627,6098,7353,2651,195,7534,7159,6561,6518,5889,2217,6043,2652,4062,4069,7161,2341,6188,7160],"class_list":["post-69122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-broad-tailed-hummingbirds","category-summit-county-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-bloom","tag-blooming","tag-blossoms","tag-broad-tailed-hummingbird","tag-canyons","tag-currant","tag-currants","tag-favorite-perch","tag-flowering","tag-flowering-shrub","tag-flowers","tag-hummingbird","tag-hummingbirds-2","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-ribes-cereum","tag-selasphorus-platycercus","tag-shrub","tag-wax-currant"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-male-perched-mia-mcpherson-9192.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-hYS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58286,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/01\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-bliss-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":69122,"position":0},"title":"Broad-tailed Hummingbird Bliss in The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent yesterday morning enjoying a Broad-tailed Hummingbird bliss in the Wasatch Mountains by finding their favorite perches and photographing them feeding, resting, and defending their territories.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Broad-tailed Hummingbird at a blooming Black Twinberry Honeysuckle, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, 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