Costa’s Hummingbirds are now MIA from my Las Vegas NV feeder – no more whistles

               I listen and wait, but don’t hear a whistle anywhere. I watch and wait, but don’t see the Costa’s Hummingbird at my feeder. There are still plenty of hummingbirds but none that have the charm and tameness of the Costa’s.

                I was really trying to find a different word for tameness, since other hummingbirds are also very bold. I was standing out on my patio with my handyman, he was no more than two feet from the feeder, when a hummer came to the feeder and took a good long drink. My handyman commented on how my birds must be used to having people around, since he never got them to feed when he was near his feeders. A few days later I was standing on the grass two feet on the other side of the feeder when a hummer came up, buzzed me, and then sat down for a drink on the perch nearest where I was standing. On Tuesday as I was pulling out of my garage just after 8 a.m., I saw the silhouette of a hummer hovering above my car. Had I had my camera I could have taken its picture, he stayed that long. No, tame is not the right word for the Costa’s as compared to other hummers, but he does like to stick around a lot longer than other hummers.

                While I am listening for the whistles that don’t come, I do here other birds singing. The finch practices a few notes of his spring song. The mockingbird lets me know who is in the neighborhood. I hear the song of the Anna's hummer coming from the end of a tree branch. But no one whistles.

                The finches still come regularly for their drink of water. The immature that flocked earlier in the year didn’t actually leave the area. They arrived at my backyard en masse to visit. There must have been between eight and twelve birds. They didn’t stop for a drink of water, but did check out the ground looking for weed seeds. Then they moved off leaving their elders to drink from the ant moats.

                Other birds that I see less often in my yard, but frequently when I walk the dogs, are also flocking. These are the Great-tailed Grackles. Every fall the flock together in large flocks and roost in the pine trees along our walk. Early in the morning when they awaken the air is filled with their rather coarse calls, as the Peterson field guides characterizes it, ‘shrill, discordant notes, whistles and clucks.’

Two female grackles and a male, hanging out at a local fast food joint

                I have heard people refer to these as crows. They are slimmer and smaller than crows, looking much more like the standard blackbird, but they are larger than the blackbird. The are close to the size of pigeons. There are two species of ‘big-tailed’ grackles: the Great-Tailed and the Boat-Tailed. At one time these were considered subspecies then it was decided to separate them into two. My life list instantly got one bird longer because I had seen this bird in both the west and Florida, since the Boat-Tailed is in Florida I knew I had already seen it.

The lordly male after the females flew off

It is 2 in the afternoon. I am outside in my backyard; I hear a far off whistle. It can only be one thing. A Costa's hummer. Later I am on the phone. It is about 4 in the afternoon. I look out at my tomato cage. There is a male Costa's just sitting there. I take my binoculars just to make sure. Yep, I was right. I heard him at 8:30 the next morning and then he was gone. Obviously I am getting migrating males from further north. Costa's will summer as far north as Reno, so these are just passing through. Until next year.