I've had a couple people ask how I get so close to those skittish little hummingbirds.  The truth is, I don't.  At least not with the camera.  The Nikon 600mm VR lens has a minimum focus distance of about 18 ft (6m), so I have to be at least that distance away from the birds.  I also use a 1.4x tele-converter, this gets me a bit closer, digitally speaking.  I have approximately 8 feeders with various foods for the different bird species.  They are spread out on a clothes line from about 10ft to 30ft (3m - 10m) away. 

Here are a couple photographs I took with my phone camera.  I prefer having the setup on the table, so I can sit down and patiently wait for the birds.  The odd shaped thing on the top of the camera is actually a red dot scope used on a shotgun or paintball gun.  I made a bracket that fits into the hot shoe of the camera and rests on the top of the filter cover.  Why you ask?   This lens has a very small angle of view, meaning you only see bout 4 % of the area in front of the camera, while looking in the view finder.  A bird can come and go before you actually find the darn thing in the viewfinder to get the picture.  With this set up, I turn the red dot scope on, and it shows a red dot where the lens is aimed.  This thing is outstanding for panning shots of moving birds or airplanes.   You don't need to look into the viewfinder, just look into the scope from a distance, the dot will be on target.  As you can also see, I have a cat to deal with.  Truth of the matter is, we have FIVE cats to deal with.  And if you know cats, they want to be directly in front of you whether you are reading the newspaper, or on the computer. As for the birds, they don't seem to mind them being in close proximity.  However, its a pain when the cats decide to stretch and sit up when the birds finally do show up.