Towards the end of our 11 night stay in Tobago, we spent a happy couple of hours in the hummingbird-friendly garden of Junior Thomas, a local guide and naturalist. This lay between the settlement of Bloody Bay and the rainforest edge, around 3 miles north of where we were staying in Castara. A visit is thoroughly recommended for anyone staying in this lovely island.
Junior is a trained guide, accredited by the Tobagan government. He has established a fine garden behind his home, and runs a guiding company “Unique Tours”. The ground slopes steeply away below the viewing platform, with a well-arranged collection of flowering shrubs, perches and feeders. Backgrounds are nicely distant for good photography and the afternoon light catches the fluttering birds in a mix of sunshine and open shade.
There are six hummingbird species found on Tobago, and I was able to photograph five, all but one in natural surroundings. This included the borderline-threatened White tailed Sabrewing.
Many thanks to Junior, who’s a really nice guy, clearly delighted to share his love of these beautiful creatures.
https://www.facebook.com/junior.thomas.58?fref=search&__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARDIrMKWjZdZcnU6xpBFel2MS6jJnmLIceL020C-lFdOQybJccOYAVdouL7xx06IBEVE4KZ7jUcbf_eQ
A short article based on this post has been published on the Royal Photographic Society Eastern Region website: https://rps.org/news/regions/east-anglia/2020/april/hovering-jewels-by-mark-farrington-lrps/
Hovering Ruby topaz.
Perched Ruby topaz.
Ruby topaz: such a striking species.
White necked jacobin.
White necked jacobin in flight, dodging other birds to get to a feeder, caught with nictitating membranes closed.
White necked jacobin at take-off: caught with the Olympus Pro-capture facility, using high-speed buffering to improve the photographer’s reaction time.
The best image I got of the near-threatened White tailed Sabrewing.
Copper rumped hummingbird I.
Copper rumped hummingbird II.
I was trying to avoid including the feeders in the garden, but this was one of the only decent set of images I captured of the Black throated hummingbird.