If you’re lucky, during the summer in Madera Canyon, which is located in the Santa Rita Mountains of the Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona, you might see eighteen species of hummingbird. Many of the eighteen are very rare and so on my recent visit, I was excited to see seven different species, the biggest variety I’ve seen in one place. But attempting to photograph hummingbirds in flight there was the most challenging and frustrating photography I’ve ever done despite my many years of photographing the Anna’s hummingbirds that visit my house year round. On our first day, I failed to successfully capture a single bird in flight because our approach differed significantly from what I was used to, including using manual focus. I did manage to get a couple of birds perched that first day and this is one of the little gems we saw regularly, a Broad-billed Hummingbird.
