I went to the Paton Center for Hummingbirds in Patagonia, AZ, to photograph hummingbirds after one of my co-workers told me she had been there with some birding friends. I found this Violet-crowned hummer on my first day. The Paton Center is a place of near certainty to see this species. Some of the rarer species of hummingbirds seem to adopt a specific canyon or area as their summer grounds; The Violet-crowned occurs in large numbers at the Paton Center.

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Down the road from the Paton Center for Hummingbirds in Patagonia, AZ, is the Sonoita Creek Preserve. Dozens of Broadbill visit the several feeders the Preserve provides. After a couple hours of marveling at the dozens of hummers as well as four different species, I looked for an area where the birds would perch after feeding and noticed they would often rest on this twig outside the small pavilion area where the feeders hung. I stood in the sun to take advantage of the light and pointed my camera and waited.

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This was the first species of hummingbird I saw when I arrived in Patagonia, AZ, this past summer. As far as I can tell, tell they are the most prevalent hummer down there. With hundreds of shots, one turned out.

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This is why everyone should hang hummingbird feeders. One, the birds need the extra energy we can provide. Two, you can open your living room window and get a pretty good shot. The backdrop is a large cluster of blackberry bushes.

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This species is not as dominant as the Black-chinned and Broad-billed in Southeast Arizona, but they are not terribly hard to find. This single bird was drawing nectar from a feeder that several broad-tails were using. I noticed that it would perch for a second or two on a particular twig, so I aimed and waited. A single shot in a burst was a keeper.

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