Hummingbirds are some of the most interesting and unique birds out there in nature. Here in Florida we only get one species, the ruby throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). I’ve been seeing a lot of these little beauties since I changed from a commercial hummingbird food to a simple sugar and water formula. This guy is an immature male who is just in the process of getting his red beard feathers in. Every time I see him, he has a few more of those feathers popping out on his neck. These images of him show one of the interesting things about hummingbirds (and some other species, like blue jays, as well). Their lustrous, sparkling feathers depend on light refraction to determine the colors that you see. In the above image, those beard feathers are red, but when he turns his head and the sun hits them at a different angle they turn a bright copper color. If the sun isn’t hitting them at all, they actually appear black. That refractive property of the feathers also happens with the green feathers on the back and wings, but the differences are less extreme. This cool feature means that I can take several shots of the same bird and it can end up looking like several different birds depending on the body position and amount of sunlight. That makes them not only fun to watch, but also fun to photograph.