I'm not sure if it gets any better than relaxing on a patio, overlooking a beautiful ocean, with hummingbird zooming all about. I took this video on a vacation in Bonaire. There were many hummingbirds in the yard and there was a lounge chair seated very close to one of the plants that had the red flowers upon which they would perch and feed. I sat in the chair for about five minutes, iPhone at the ready, to get this video. The iPhone video camera wasn't fast enough for the hummingbird's wings, so it looks kind of like a CGI hummingbird! I wanted to find out more about what kind of hummingbird this was, so I was able to stop the video to identify it.
Bonaire is a small island that is part of the Netherland Antilles, located just 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Only two species of hummingbirds are on Bonaire. The largest, seen in the video, is the Ruby Topaz, (Chrysolampis mosquitus) with rufous on the tail of both adults and a male with a splendid, fiery-red gorget and glistening orange-red crown. The other is the smaller, Common Emerald (Chlorostilbon mellisugus), which can be found at many sites where flowers are conspicuous, but neither come readily to hummingbird feeders.
Here are some still shots taken from the video.
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