This summer has been hot, cold, humid, hot, humid, cold. And full of hummingbirds. We’ve had at least one in our backyard everyday, perching on our dead maple sapling that we never dug up.

But I’ve read that for every hummingbird you see, ten are visiting.

Of course, I’ve tried to photograph them. I’ve had very mixed success. Either they are in focus, but too distant to make out any details …

… or I get a closer shot, but it’s blurry, because they are in such a hurry.

But this morning, it was cool, and overcast, which drives the birds to the feeders. I could hear the hummers buzzing and zipping around the yard. Armed with my camera, I set forth.

The first bird I shot had been perching on feeder, but when he launched, he turned towards me, showing me his star-like magenta gorget — a male Calliope! I love these charming little guys! This was a treat, because we only see them in migration as they come down from central interior of the Rockies. They are the smallest of the hummers that breed in North America, so I’m always rooting for them.

One of the birds sat still long enough for me to get a very nice shot of her — a female broad-tailed hummingbird. I’m feeling good about this one.

Except when it took off, I got just one little flash of red in it’s bib — it’s a juvenile male broad-tailed hummingbird putting on his big-boy plumage. When he’s fully an adult, he’ll have a trim red bib where all the little green-on-white feathers are now.

And belligerent. Did I mention the hummers were belligerent? The above male launched because he was attacked by third hummingbird.

I can’t tell for sure, but the bird in the back seems to be a female Rufous hummingbird, which would explain all the attacks. They’ll fight with anything. I once saw a Rufous try to pick a fight with my dog.

Rufous hummingbirds are another species we only see coming or going between the Pacific Northwest and Mexico. A rufous and a Calliope — two early migratory hummers coming through our yard — we’ve hit the peak of summer and are on the downhill side.