Each
day as the dogs and I come home from our morning walk, we are greeted by the
whistle of the Costa’s hummingbird. Except this morning, when he was too busy
chasing away another hummer. This time as we walked up the driveway two hummers
came zipping by, with the chaser chattering all the while. After they whipped
by us in the front, I heard them in the backyard. They must have been circling
the house.
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| Costa's male watching for insects |
After we
came into the house I looked and saw the Costa’s male sitting on his lookout
post, a dead branch on my new, still struggling, dwarf magnolia tree. He was
watching for any interlopers that happened by, as well as any juicy, though
tiny, insects flying around near him.
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| Still watching for insects |
Another
favorite place for him to sit and watch is the saucer feeder. The perch is
exactly the same one that last year’s Costa’s used. There is no way of knowing
if it’s the same individual, since the bird is not banded, or if it’s just that
that perch is placed well for watching the yard and the patio.
The day
I was taking pictures of him, he was actively fly catching. Since my patio is
filled with plants, it is also filled with little flying insects. They are the
perfect size for hummers to feast on. After a few minutes he either got tired
or had his fill, since he settled himself on the perch. For a short time he
still kept an eye out for insects. Then he decided a good scratch was
necessary. That was followed by some heavy duty grooming.
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| Time for a good scratch |
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| And then he needed to groom his wings |
When he
finished that job he was off again to chase away more hummingbirds, drink more
sweet water and eat more insects. Or, in other words, live the typical life of
a male hummingbird with no household chores or children to worry about.
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