Immature hummingbirds reign supreme – Las Vegas feeders are busy with the young

            Female hummers worked hard this spring and summer laying eggs and raising the young. Unfortunately for the mothers, the males simply went about their merry ways, defending territories and displaying their prowess of singing from the tops of trees.

            When I am walking home with the dogs at first light, I hear the Anna’s ‘sewing machine’ song coming from the trees at my next door neighbors’. When I get in front of my own home, I hear the whistle of the Costa’s coming from my bushes. Those are adult males letting the world know they are present and accounted for. But they are now in the minority.

            The yard is full of immature hummingbirds representing each of the three species that summer here: Black-chinned, Anna’s and Costa’s. My feeders frequently need fresh sweet water as they are kept busy from first light to last light. Hummingbirds are the first birds I see in the morning and the last birds I see in the evening. Sometimes it is so dark when I see the last one that all I can really detect is the silhouette of the bird perched on the feeder.

This picture was taken by a former student using her iPhone6

            When the birds are really young they are willing to have another bird sit with them at the feeder. I suspect that in most of these cases the two birds feeding together are nestlings, hatched from the same clutch and raised in the same nest. I have frequently seen two at a feeder, but have not been quick enough with the camera to catch an image of it.

I think this is an Anna's due to size and tail

As the birds get older and the male begins to develop his colored gorget, he also gets much more territorial. When the day is cool and my windows are open I hear the chattering a hummingbirds as the feeders get defended from all comers. There is so much of that going on it becomes a constant hum in the background. When I am outside I frequently see two dots fly in front of my face as the defender vanquishes the interloper.

Immature Costa's guarding a feeder

When I see one of these combatants I assume that the young male is the victor because that is who comes back to the feeder or the immediate area. Sometimes he sits at the feeder, but more often he sits on a stem of the bush closest to the feeder or at least located where he can keep an eye on it and make a mad dash to chases the interloper away.

He then moved to another vantage point, but he can still see the feeder

I know it’s difficult to identify the immature males, but I try any way. I have theories about what to look for, which could be disproved at any moment! One is: I notice the feathers surrounding the throat. If they are long and hairy I assume it’s a Costa’s, I look at the gorget feathers that are starting to develop. If they are narrow and long I again assume it’s a Costa’s. The tail is the real give away for me because the tail of the Costa’s is shorter than the wing tips, while those of the Black-chinned and Anna’s are longer.

Another Costa's feeding

Also, at my house the Costa’s males are the rulers, so the Costa’s immature definitely are to be found in greater numbers. Since I see so few of the other two species I am still working on an identification for them.

Probably the same Costa's watching the feeder

Soon the migrants will start to come through, and then I’ll have to try to identify immature Broad-tailed, Rufus and Calliope also. I think I may give up and just enjoy watching the activity at my feeders here in Las Vegas NV.

Costa’s Hummingbird Fly Catching in Las Vegas – Celebrating Independence Day

 It was still hot at 6:30 a.m. on Independence Day, which was not surprising after weeks of hot weather. It wasn’t just temperatures in the high 80s that made it uncomfortable walking the dogs, but the humidity felt much higher than the official 15%. Maybe it was the dark cloud cover that seemed to promise rain, but didn’t deliver, that made it seem that way.

            I may not have liked the weather, but the hummingbirds were having a grand old time fly catching. As I walked up the sidewalk to my front door I saw a hummer whiz by me. He was flying up into the air and then hovering in place for a second before he landed on the closest convenient branch. Obviously he was going after those delicious tiny flying insects that provide him with his needed nutrients.

Resting on the Bank's rose bush after eating insects

            I knew the flying insect population was large. When I went out on my back patio before daybreak I was accosted by dozens of insects that collected around the light. Finally, in desperation, I went in and closed the door. Not only were there the usual gnats, but the ants are swarming right now as well. When ants swarm the females fly out of the ant hill, accompanied by the much smaller males. I have seen hundreds of them flying, sometimes quite high in the air. I am sure the hummingbird was enjoying eating them. He certainly was doing his part to reduce the ant population.

Immature male feeds at the east-side feeder

Back at the Bank's rose, the Costa's male preens his feathers.

            As I watched he changed his perch from the Bank’s rose bush that hangs over my neighbor’s wall, to the Texas sage that grows next to my kitchen window. While he was at the Texas sage another adult Costa’s hummingbird came up to him. Much to my surprise, there was no quick flight to chase him away. On the contrary, the two did a face-to-face dance in the air, then sat on adjacent branches. Before I could get a picture of the two together, one of them flew away. The other stayed for a short time before he too went off looking for more food.

            In the meantime, a hummingbird landed at the east-side feeder (I put it up this spring so I can watch birds while I’m in the kitchen.) I snapped a picture, only to find when I looked at it closely, this was a totally different bird! The other two were adult Costa’s males; this was an immature male, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it were also a Costa’s.

            I don’t know why the proximity of other hummers did not result in a major chase scene, after all, I still see it happen enough at the feeders. Maybe it was the abundance of feed in the form of insects and the excitement of the hunt that was more interesting than chasing away rivals. Later in the day I heard the familiar chatter of chasing hummers, so it was merely a temporary truce.

            The hummer did stop his feeding to take care of his morning preening. Of course he has to look his best to be in the proper form to chase away all comers!

Migrating hummingbirds move through Las Vegas – evening brings the solitary visitor

Whistling in an apple tree

In the middle of April we had a horribly windy day. Wind warnings were out for the entire area with gusts of 50 miles per hour expected. The highest official wind gusts were in the upper 40s, still a whole lot more wind than I, or the birds like. The next day I saw several dead birds, one was a Mourning dove, another small bird of some type, about finch size, under the high tension power lines. I can only assume the wind drove them into the lines.

                I was concerned that the migrating hummingbirds would be in serious trouble, but I didn’t see any exhausted birds at my feeder that evening, I can only hope they stayed in a safe location that day. One hummingbird who did show up surprised me. It was C Hummer! I was outside cleaning up, the usual occupation of a dog owner, when I was coming back to the patio I noticed a hummingbird sitting on the back of a patio chair. There is only one hummer that does that, and he is C Hummer. I leaned down to get a better look and he flew up and hovered just inches from my face. Then he went back to his chair. He stayed there most of the day. My patio was well protected from the wind. He knew it would be, so came back for shelter. The next day the wind was much less and he was gone again.

                I do have a Costa’s male around my house, but I can’t tell if it is C Hummer or another. Since he is not keeping the feeders well defended and he isn’t coming up to see me, I can only assume it isn’t.

                I did have a red-letter day in April. I saw my first adult male Rufus Hummingbird! I was on the phone watching the south side feeder when I saw the Anna’s male interacting with another adult male. That male was sitting on a dead branch left over from trimming the Dallas Lantana. It is caught up in a tendril of the Cat’s Claw vine, so I leave it there. The birds love it because it overlooks that feeder.

                Back to the hummingbirds, when the Anna’s male left, the other male flew over to the feeder. I could see its rufus-colored sides and knew I was looking at a Rufus Hummingbird. Then he moved and the sun glinted off his red gorget. I grabbed my camera, but he was sitting behind the feeder. All I could see was his tail. When he flew out he skimmed over the wall and away he went. He probably had only made a pit stop at my feeder, since it was early afternoon and was on his way to his destination. The closest the Rufus hummers nest is in the mountains of northern Idaho. While some go all the way to Alaska, I assume those take the coast route rather than the inland one.

Notice the tail is longer than the wing tips

                The next interaction I had in April also involved an adult Anna’s male. When I drove into my garage one day, I saw two hummingbirds flying around the red yucca (not really a yucca, but Hesperaloe) next to the drive way. By the time I got out of the car, they were both sitting in the bush, just inches away from each other. I dashed into the house for my camera, but when I got back, one had flown away. The other stayed around and let me take numerous pictures of him.

                The first hummingbird pictures taken in the merry-month of May were of a Costa’s Hummingbird. I heard him whistling out in front. I grabbed the camera and went looking. His whistle enabled me to find him. He was sitting on the top of my neighbor’s apple tree. I only knew where to look because in winter, when the tree is bare of leaves, this is a favorite place for hummingbirds to sit. And they are much easier to spot then without a covering of leaves.

                As the year moves closer to summer I will see more hummers, but they will be mostly immatures, but they will keep my hummingbird feeders busy here in Las Vegas NV.

               

               

Hummingbird Populations Shift in Las Vegas NV – spring brings changes

The first day of spring this year heralded the change of the season and a change in the hummingbird population. The number of birds that I saw at my feeders had decreased markedly, judging not only from the birds I saw, but also from the amount of sweet water that disappeared each day. Except for the feeder that is frequented by the finches and Verdins, I needed to dump feed to freshen the supply.

Then the north side feeder started to go way down, even though I didn’t observe all that many hummingbirds around my house. I suspected that the major portion of the feeding was taking place in the evening when the birds came in off migration.

That was confirmed on Monday, March 23. I looked out on the west side feeder shortly before 7 p.m. and saw a bird feeding. But he wasn’t really feeding. He was just sitting there, exhausted. He had his bill open and his tongue hanging out like a dog. Obviously he had been fighting a head wind all day, as there were wind warnings out for the Colorado River canyon that day. He must have sat there for a good 15 minutes. Then he left. Later, right before it got really dark a hummer came in for a drink, if it were the say hummer he was rested, because this bird was its normal spritely self.

His tongue is handing out, glinting in the lowering sun.

I took a photo of the exhausted bird. Since it was so dark I had to put it through filters to see it well enough to identify it. I decided it was an adult male Black-chinned hummingbird. I haven’t seen it since, so I assume he headed out the next morning for his northern summering place.

Filtering shows the tight gorget of the black-chinned. That, along with the longer tail, identifies him.

Saturday, April 4, again about 7 p.m., I saw an adult male Calliope at the feeder. He was drinking and drinking and then drank some more. It was so dark I couldn’t take a photo. I couldn’t even see details with my binoculars. I based my identification on the gorget winging out to the side, the very short tail, shorter even than the Costa’s, and his generally round appearance. When he finally finished drinking, he flew into the Mock Orange bush next to the feeder, where he probably spent the night.

Between those two times I was able to get a photo of an adult male Anna’s hummingbird at the feeder. He fed during the day, so is probably one our local birds. The thing that surprised me is that he fed unmolested. C Hummer did not dive bomb him.

Tail longer than the wingtips, gorget extending, color on the crown, larger size, and lack of 'hairy' white feathers, identifies this as an Anna's

This didn’t totally surprise me either. That is because I think C Hummer said goodbye to me several weeks ago. I was outside in the evening cleaning up the yard, a job every dog owner s gets to do regularly, when I heard the buzzing of hummingbird wings on my left. Then I heard the hum of the wings on my right. Next thing, I saw C Hummer land on the back of the patio chair. There he sat until I went into the house.

Since then I have heard Costa’s hummingbirds whistling, but I have not had any interaction with one. And the feeders are not being defended with the former vigilance. From that, I can only think that C Hummer has gone, leaving the yard for yet another hummer to take over here in Las Vegas NV.

Failed Hummingbird Nest in Las Vegas NV – a sad story

                A female Costa’s hummingbird was queen of the north side feeder all winter. I took pictures of her in fair weather and foul. I was sure to see her sitting at the feeder or on the top of a dead branch next to the feeder.

                I identified her as a Costa’s based on two observations. One, there are only two wintering species here in Las Vegas NV, so she could only be a Costa’s or an Anna’s. Two, the Anna’s female has a tear drop of color on her throat; the Costa’s female does not. The north side queen did not have the tear drop and she was smaller than the Anna’s.

                Come warmer weather I didn’t see her anymore. I hoped that meant she had gone to the desert or headed up towards Utah, where some Costa’s summer.

                Then last Saturday my neighbor told me he had a hummingbird’s nest in his bottle brush bush that is between our two houses, on the north side of my place. I was excited since I have not had the privilege of watching a nesting hummingbird. Then he added: there were two eggs, but they were cracked.

Nest with broken eggs

                Right then I knew this was a failed nest. A female doesn’t ordinarily lay eggs and then desert the nest.  Either she is driven from her nest for some reason, or she dies. Suddenly the fact I hadn’t seen my Costa’s female lately became very disturbing. In all probability she is dead.

                I went out to see the nest and then asked permission to photograph it. From its location and construction I feel confident that it was her nest.

                Costa’s like to build their nests in open, sparsely leaved shrubs. They normally put the nest anywhere from two feet to eight feet above the ground. This one is at about five feet.

Nest securely tucked where limbs have been pruned off.

                The nest is constructed of plant fibers, spider webs, bits of leaves or flowers, and down. It is grayish in color.

                The nest fits all those descriptors.

Carefully constructed hummingbird nest

                So what happened to the mother? I don’t know. There simply hasn’t been any bad weather for her to contend with and she made it through the earlier bad weather just fine. Predators are always a possibility. This doesn’t have to be neighborhood cats. I have watched a Great Tailed Grackle peck an adult hummingbird to death, much to my horror. Disease is another possibility. This winter I watched my Mockingbirds get sick and disappear and a friend reported finding a dead hummingbird a few blocks from my house. From the description, it was an adult male.

                I was sad the whole rest of the day. My first hummingbird nest turned out not to be a source of joy, but one of sorrow. I have to keep reminding myself that failure and death is part of life, and just as important to the ultimate survival of the species, including humans, as success and birth, even here in the make-believe world of Las Vegas NV.

Two hummingbird species winter in Las Vegas NV – how to tell them apart

C Hummer taken from 2 feet away

                Here in Las Vegas NV we have two species that stay with us all winter – the Costa’s Hummingbird and the Anna’s Hummingbird. Even though we usually have at least one week, or more, of below freezing temperatures, they survive the winter with the help of feeders.

Anna's male, taken by a reader, used with permission

                When you look at pictures of hummers in the field guides they look so dissimilar, but seeing them in real life is a whole different story. The field guides use their best photos with the best light. The color of the gorget shows up well. When you see your hummer it may have entirely the wrong light on it. The gorget just looks dark; details are hard to see at best.  And then, of course, the hummer seldom stays long in one spot, so your look is fleeting.

                The more details you are aware of the better your chances of identifying the adult male hummer. The chances of getting a good identification of immature birds are slim, and females can be just as frustrating.

                After hours of looking and several really good photos, I feel a little more confident about differentiating between the Anna’s adult male and the Costa’s adult male that I see in my neighborhood.

                Let’s look at the similarities that exist between the Anna’s and Costa’s. These males are the only ones in our area that have colored heads. The color on the gorget is repeated on the top of the head. Our other summering hummers have green heads. This fact helps to eliminate choices in the summer, but doesn’t do us any good in the winter.

                The most obvious thing to look for is the shape of the gorget. The Costa’s gorget has very long side feathers that extend way down onto his shoulders. Behind his gorget at the sides and bottom there are long ‘hairy,’ perfectly white, feathers.

                Anna’s also has a gorget that extends to the side, but it is not so long, nor are the feathers themselves so long. The feathers next to the gorget are small and gray.

                Both birds have a white patch at the corner of the eye. The Costa’s patch joins with the white feathers along the side, while the Anna’s patch is cut off by more gorget feathers.

                The color of the gorget differs. While both will simply look dark in bad light, and have a rosy look in other lights, good light tells another story. Anna’s gorget is red-pink, yet if you see it in bright light it will look golden. Costa’s, on the other hand, looks purple and sometimes even shades towards the blue.

                A look at their breasts shows yet other differences. The Costa’s is speckled with a definite white stripe down the front and a green hue on the sides. Anna’s has a scalloped pattern on the feathers, no white stripe and tends towards the grey with just a hint of green.   

                Their tails also are different. Costa’s tail is shorter than the wing tips; Ann’s tail is longer than the wing tips.

                Even with all these things to look at, there will be days when identification is iffy at best. So I wish you good luck and good light in your efforts at hummingbird identification.