The first afternoon of August (
Saturday, 8-1-2020) from the back deck. The morning overcast was replaced by bright sunshine, which made photography difficult.
No sighting of the rufous hummer since the hummer war, but the Anna's is back. I don't know if she drove off the rufous or if the rufous decided it was time to head south for the winter. It has a long way to go before reaching Mexico and points south.
Both hummers periodically perch here, which lets me know they are at the flower bed. I believe this is a female Anna's due to the small red patch on her neck.
The combination of distance (12-14 yards), lighting, and intervening foliage made it very difficult to track and photograph the small, fast hummer with my 7DII + 600L telephoto lens mounted on a sturdy tripod while the bird darted among the flowers. There were only a few photos worth saving of the hundreds I took.
I am not sure the advanced focus system of the 7DII is really an advantage over the 1DxII in this situation. With all of the intervening foliage, it is difficult for the focal points to lock on the bird when I have it set on a wide pattern. A narrow aperture setting to increase the depth of focus might help, but that leads to other problems like high ISO settings.