Want a challenge? Try shooting hummingbirds! Many professional photographers are constantly fine tuning their techniques. You can get great images of the smallest birds but it takes practice. The first step is to learn about hummingbirds, this includes which species you have in your area and how to attract them.
Hummingbirds are migratory. They spend winters in South and Central America. In fact, they started their fall migration earlier this month. They will continue to migrate through southeast Texas until mid-October, so you have a lot of time to practice.
Putting up feeders is the best way to lure hummers to within camera range. Do NOT use red dye in the sugar water in the feeders. The red on the feeders will attract them. Some prepackaged feeder solutions come with red dye, I know. But don't use it. I mix plain granulated sugar in water, 4-to-1 ratio (for instance, 1/4 cup of sugar in a cup of water). Buy feeders that you can dismantle easily to clean. Change the solution every few days, mold and mildew form quickly.
Multiple feeders are a good idea. If you can, place these feeders out of line of sight of each other. This will cut down on hummers dueling over the food source. They are very territorial and aggressive toward each other.
Before setting up your gear just sit and observe for a few hours every day. After a while they'll get used to you and you'll be surprised how close you can get to them. This is helpful if you don't have a really long lens. Depending on the orientation of the sunlight and how fast you want to shoot you may want to deploy strobes.
Lastly, don't worry that feeding hummingbirds will prevent them from migrating to warmer climes in a timely fashion. It won't. One day you'll watch your feeders, and not see anymore hummers. By Halloween you'll take your feeders down, clean them and put them away 'til spring.
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