The
feeders around my house are busy indeed. Hummers come and go. Some come for a
quick sip and then fly over to more important duties. Others come and stay for
awhile, taking a good long drink and resting themselves for a moment.
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| Just taking a sip. |
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| The first of the three hummers. |
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| The second hummer, the adult male |
I was
watching them one evening and taking pictures. It was fifteen minutes after
seven in the middle of June. I snapped a picture of one male sitting on a perch
feeding. He took off and then came back again, less than a minute later, for
another drink – that is what I thought, at least. I took several more pictures
of him, I could see it was an adult male Costa’s, before he again left me. A few
minutes later an immature hummer came and sat at a perch on the other side of
the feeder and stayed long enough for me to get several shots in.
When I
downloaded the pictures and put them into the photo editor, I thought I had
made an error in selecting the picture. The picture that I assumed was the
first of the adult male Costa’s turned out to be an immature male just getting
his gorget. I didn’t think I was that unobservant that I mistook an adult male
for a juvenile. I went back to the original pictures and found out what had
happened. The bird that left and then came back immediately – didn’t. He took off
and was quickly replaced by a totally different hummer. That second one was the
mature adult Costa’s. Whew, that saved my sanity!
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| The third hummer. |
The
supposedly second hummer, who was really the third one, was a different
bird than the other two. I find that pictures are essential for me to keep track
of what’s going on at my feeders here in Las Vegas.
Despite
the fact that I have four sweet-water feeders around my house, the hummingbirds
still like to sip nectar from flowers. Even the tiny lantana flower attracts
them. One day I was out to check on the feeders when what I took to be a female
hummer, came up and flew within a few feet of me looking for any insects
attracted to the finch feeders. She hovered around them and then went and sat
on the hook holding the feed sock, watching me all the while. Next she flew
down to the purple lantana on the left of the sock sipping a little nectar,
then to the orange lantana on the right of the sock, where she got some more
nectar. Finally she flew off. All the while I stood like a statute waiting for
her to finish.
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| The best photo I could get! |
This
year I don’t seem to have any one bird that owns the sweet-water feeders. I don’t
know if it is still too early in the year, or if I really am going to go
through the summer with no hostile takeovers. One can only wonder when it comes
to birds, but there is a marked difference this year with the feeders.
The
finches use the feeders frequently to rest on in the shade. They also use the
ant moat as a water supply and whenever they can, sneak a little sweet water
for themselves. The hummingbirds have learned to coexist with the finches and
ignore their presence. The hummer drinks on one side of the feeder while a
finch rests on the other side. The hummers have had to learn tolerance, maybe
this has spread to other hummers as well.
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| A hummer feeds while a finch rests in the shade. |
I’ll be
watching as the summer progresses to see what other surprises my hummingbird
friends have for me here in Las Vegas NV.
