Inviting Hummingbirds into Garden (Bay Area, CA)

2025年11月10日 Birds

One thing I absolutely wanted to accomplish after coming to the U.S. was creating a hummingbird garden.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, hummingbirds buzz around the park right in front of my home. I believed that if I planted flowers they loved, those nectar-obsessed little creatures would surely come. After six months of preparation, that dream finally took shape. The cold Bay Area weather ruined every seedling I tried to grow from seed, but I managed to get blossoms at last from nursery plants I reluctantly bought.

Blue salvia growing in a planter during autumn in the Bay Area — The flowers are Salvia “Mystic Spires Blue Sage”, blooming in clusters of deep bluish purple. Salvias are often listed among the top flowers that attract hummingbirds.

Continued observation revealed that hummingbirds had finally discovered the flowers and were occasionally coming to sip nectar. I planned the best composition and set up my camera at the minimum focus distance for the 400 mm lens. At last, it was time for the Z8’s Auto Capture function to shine. AF was set to 3D tracking, subject detection to “animals,” and detection size to 4 out of 5 to account for the bird’s relative size. The battery didn’t last two hours, so after replacing it and leaving the setup running again, the target finally appeared.

Close-up of an Anna’s Hummingbird feeding on nectar from blue salvia flowers in autumn in the Bay Area — A female Anna’s Hummingbird flew in exactly where I had hoped. Since she moved methodically from flower to flower, her route was somewhat predictable. But even so, having it align perfectly was very satisfying.

With Auto Capture, you have to leave your gear unattended not just for hummingbirds, but for any subject. Unless you can watch it for hours, doing this in a public area is basically asking for your equipment to be stolen. Setting things up at home is far safer, and this time the effort truly paid off.