Costa’s Hummingbird on the outlook - Fly catching from the tomato cage

It was Friday afternoon, July 26. At 5 o’clock the temperature on my patio was 96 degrees, the humidity was 25%. Clouds were covering the sun, as thunderstorms were reported on Mt. Charleston. The gnat-like insects must have been out in full force because the Costa’s hummingbird was having a great time eating as many as he could catch.

Costa's hummer watching for insects

Showing his purple head

He sat on the top of the tomato cage, which holds a yam plant, and watched for flying insects. When he saw one that was close he flew out from his perch, grabbed it and then came back. Sometimes he was still in the process of swallowing the insect as he sat on the upper rim of the cage. If it was an extra large insect he would work his bill until he got it down.

I stood at the sliding glass door, camera in hand. I didn’t want to go outside and risk having him change positions. So I was snapping pictures with the zoom just strong enough to pick up the details without losing too much clarity. Since I use a Canon PowerShot SX160 that puts it at about 24X zoom. That is plenty for hummers at the feeder, but pushing it for those at the corner of my property.

The sun wasn’t shining because of the heavy cloud cover to the west. Therefore the light was diffuse. This created prefect conditions to bring out the color of the Costa’s gorget. With light coming from all directions the color was not isolated to just one spot on the throat; it was visible all over the gorget and even on the top of the head.  This was the most brilliant display of color from a hummingbird that I have ever seen. Now I can only pray for more opportunities like this one with more species of hummingbirds here in Las Vegas.