Slow times at the hummingbird feeder in Las Vegas, NV – at least at mine!

Here it is the first Monday in September and I am still struggling with what to write about. I know from the amount of sweet water that is being consumed at my feeders that there are hummingbirds around, but they aren’t staying long enough for me to photograph them.

I hear the whistles of the Costa’s in the morning and see him once and awhile. The problem with being around too much is that it is no longer exciting to see him, hence the phrase: ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’ Even when he is chasing other hummers away I know it is he and so don’t pay that much attention.

The hummers I do see at the feeder all seem to be the young-of-the-year.

Immature hummer at the west feeder

These are so hard to identify that I have to rely on photography to get even an idea of which species they are. Since these are mostly migrants that are just passing through, they haven’t gained any trust of me. As soon as they see me with the camera, off they go. Some of them don’t even alight to feed, but move from feeding station to feeding station on the wing. That presents even more challenges to photography without a fast-action camera.

At the north one

I have noticed that the north side feeder seems to get more action than the west side feeder. I don’t know if it that is because I am not at the window looking north as often as I am looking west, or if it is that the Costa’s doesn’t patrol the north side feeder as assiduously as he does the other side’s. Photography with that feeder presents its own challenges since the camera does insist on focusing on the plant behind it.

Flitting for food

My hummers are at a low right now, but other feeders are still hoping – flitting? I regularly get a report of six or seven hummers at a time feeding at a home east of mine. It is in an older neighborhood, so has more mature vegetation. I don’t know if that makes the difference, or if it just the location on the flight path of the hummers. Those feeders have to be filled twice a day to keep up with the demand.

While I don’t have much action going on with hummers, I do have more with finches. The mother finch, who originally came to the ant moat for water, has returned with two more fledglings following her. Now I’m up to five finches coming for water. This presents a steady stream of finches.

These have their own interesting actions. One day a finch decided to try and take a bath in the ant moat. She did her best, but I doubt if she got much bathing. She flapped her wings and tried to get water on her breast. She tried from one angle and then another. Finally she flew away and I never did know if she succeeded.

A very small bath tub!