Thematic Photographic #158 --- Made of Glass

Carmi at Written, Inc. looks at life on so many levels, and for that I love to see what he will come up with next for the weekly Thematic Photographic.  It's not just the theme, but also what he captures during the week on that theme.  There is an art to looking at the ordinary in extraordinary ways, and Carmi is the Guru. That's what I was missing while away from TP and what I am enjoying the most by coming back!

This week's theme is "Made of Glass" which leaves the field wide open! Everywhere you look there is something made of glass, much of it we take for granted and never think twice about it.  A couple of days ago I was listening to the humming and twittering of the hummingbirds outside the door near my computer.  (By twittering I mean the original twitters of little birds.) This time of year the hummingbirds are storing up the sugar for their migration back to Mexico and Central America so they swarm around my two feeders and go through a gallon of nectar each day!  So, what does this have to do with "Made of Glass"?  The bottles on the feeders are glass, but the birds have no idea about that.  They only know that the little red flowers yield the sweetness they crave to stay alive.  However, if that glass bottle becomes empty, they aren't aware of that specifically, but they do seem to know that when the little red flowers go through the patio door, they come back out with more juice.  Let me tell you, hummingbirds are NOT that shy.  They will hover at the door if the flowers are dry and land on the feeders before I even have a chance to get them hung back on the hooks!

With 20-30 birds around my deck at any given moment I just had to try to capture them in flight. Even with 6.5 bursts per second it is not an easy task to get a perfectly clear photo of even one of them during this frenzy but I came pretty close.

This is one of my favorite shots. You can actually hear the clicking of little sword fights as they battle for position on the feeder.  This time I captured it!

And in the very next frame they were off (lower right corner), forgetting about the nectar.

This was a fresh bottle of nectar, still cold from the refrigerator. The condensation of moisture on glass is at times annoying, but who doesn't have fun making shapes on fogged up mirrors or windows?

Wow, those little critters can move!

Now and then one will get the feeder all to herself ..... for a few seconds!

Carmi, thanks again for another fun theme. Now I find myself looking at -- and through -- all things glass this week.  Check out Carmi's Thematic Photographic and play along with your photos of things made of glass.  Do you see anything unusual in the everyday things you never noticed before?