Hummingbird Tea.

My wife won a Hummingbird Tea and asked my camera along. Having stalked feeders before, I was not overly excited. The purposeful red plastic always seems to outshine

  the iridescent birds creating an unnatural contrast. This leads to cliche' pictures of a hummingbird dipping it's nose into a garish nectar dispenser with a reverse Pez-dispenser effect.

Blech.

As we pulled into the driveway I got hopeful. The house was deep in the woods of northeast Connecticut; I immediately noticed several different birds.  

The gardens contained bee balm, rose of Sharon, and  other natural hummingbird attractions.

As the afternoon progressed, more and more hummingbirds visited.

 It became difficult to see less that two at a time.

As I continued to shoot

  I captured the obligatory close ups

while they posed for me.

We watched as the birds fought over the 

remaining nectar of the feeders.

There were enough birds

 that I got to play with camera settings

for some artistic interpretations of their dances.

 The lady of the house fed us with a wonderful chicken curry dish, along with several other courses of fruits and salad.

My initial misgivings were laid to rest, I had a wonderful meal, and met friendly people.

Should you get the chance to bid on a hummingbird tea, I would highly recommend it,