Activity continues at hummingbird feeders in Las Vegas -- Costa's, Anna's and finches

If I were still in Idaho my hummingbird feeder would be long put away, waiting for another warm season to bring customers. Here in Las Vegas my feeder is busy. In fact at times I have more activity at my feeder than I did during lapses in the summer visitations. I suspect that many feeders are put away. Although there are fewer hummers around, there are also fewer feeders to meet their needs.              

                It is seven in the morning on Wednesday, October 30, 2013. The sun is not yet over the horizon, temperatures are in the 40s in the Las Vegas Valley. I am hearing the first whistle of the day from the Costa’s hummingbird. He will soon be in for a good long drink to start his day off right. As the day progresses, more hummers will come: females, immatures and adult males. The male Anna’s will hover over the feeder, moving from station to station without ever settling down on the perch. Yesterday afternoon, when the sun still shone brightly into my back patio, I watched him feeding. When he got to the feeding station behind the bottle and was facing me, his gorget shone beautifully rose in the autumn sunlight. Even if I had had my camera in hand I doubt that I could have taken a picture fast enough to record that flash of color.

                As the day got warmer more hummers came to my feeder. At one point I had three hummers chasing each other away from the feeder. I made certain my back door was closed so they would not end up in the house again.

                The hummers weren’t the only ones hanging around my patio, however. For several days I have had one young male House finch visiting the feeders. He didn’t seem to want to drink, just to look around. I decided I needed to hang a finch feeder to lure back my summer finches who had left me for greater food supplies. I didn’t want something that would attract pigeons or grackles. In the past I’ve gotten the usual bird feeder that the larger birds couldn’t frequent, only to find that the little birds scattered seed on the ground and I still got the big birds. They just fed on the spilled seeds on the ground instead of that in the feeder. This time I found a thistle seed sock. There was no way the big birds could use it and the seeds are so tiny the big birds have no interest in the feed itself.

My first customer at the thistle seed sock

                I hung my new sock feeder and waited for my first customer. It didn’t take long. At 9:20 a.m. October 28 the lone male finch came by, checked it out from the ant moat, flitted over and started feeding. He was so enthralled with the seed that he let me take several pictures of him before he flew off.

                At 12:15 p.m. he came back with two other finches. The female clung to the feeder along with my little male, but as soon as she saw me approach with the camera, off she went. The other finch just watched from the ant moat and then flew away without trying out the seed. My male, who had been around my house enough to be comfortable with me, stayed for his picture.

He didn't care that his friend took off, he stayed for more feed and more pictures

                The next day at 9:05 a.m. October 29 the female came with him again. This time she stayed to feed and let me take her picture. Perhaps because it was still early in the day and she was hungry. They stayed quite some time to fill their craws. They took off at the same time; one went to one hummingbird feeder, while the other to the second feeder and each drank water to wash down their breakfast of thistle seeds. I counted one bird taking seven drinks of water in a row before it had enough and flew off 

Hunger overcomes fear for his friend, as both ate their morning fill.

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                I wonder what the winter will bring. Will the Costa’s stay around? When will the Juncos show up? Will the White-crowned sparrows use the sock feeder? Only time will tell.

               

Costa's Alert! Hummingbird in the house in Las Vegas NV – when a high speed chase leads to a detour

                Monday at 1 pm I was sitting on the couch working a crossword puzzle with my lab/border collie sitting next to me. I heard the buzz of hummer wings right over my head. Since I was inside the house, the hummer had to be inside too. I looked up, following the sound with my eyes, when I spotted him half way through the house. He then turned around and went back out the open sliding glass door.

                Crisis over? No, I could still hear hummingbird wings buzzing in the house. I went into the kitchen and there was the second hummer, this one trying to get out the Palladian window that is just opposite the sliding glass door. To him it must have made the house look like a tunnel with light at both ends that he could fly through to get away from the hummer that was chasing him away from the feeder. Now I did have a problem. He was determined that window was the way out. He would rest for minute on the valance of the window shades below and then hover around the glass looking for an opening. I got a really close-up and personal look at him. He was an adult Costa’s male. What was I to do? I had a hummingbird in my kitchen at the far end of the house from his escape route, which was at the other end of the living room, a straight shot, but one he wasn’t willing to take.

                At one point I thought he was going out that way, but no, after flying into the living room he turned around and came back to the kitchen window. My dogs were getting really excited, as they knew I was getting flustered, but they didn’t help me. They just jumped all over me instead. My cat was watching from the table enjoying the spectacle, but she, too, was unwilling to help. I was on my own.

                First things first, the most important step was to grab my camera and get a picture. Since he was a captive model, I thought I’d get a close shot. Wrong. At soon as I came near enough he’d take up and flutter around the window. Then as soon I as I gave up, he’d settle back down on the valance.  Finally I just took what I could get. Since my camera knew that I was really trying to get a picture of the foliage just outside the window, that’s what I got— a lovely picture of leaves with an out-of-focus picture of the hummingbird sitting in front of the window. Well, I had a picture – of sorts, but I also still had a hummer in the house.

Costa's hummer inside the house

                I got a chair thinking maybe I could grab him and carry him out. As I gingerly climbed up on it, the dogs really went crazy. Now what was mummy doing? That was definitely not my best course of action. Finally I decided I needed to provide him with another escape hatch. I opened the window next to him, went outside and took off the screen as my cat sat just inside and watched me with great interest. I prayed she wouldn’t decide to use it to leave the house. I came back in the house and closed all the other window shades so that and the back door were the only source of day light. He totally ignored my efforts and, in the meantime my cat had disappeared. I didn’t see her go, so I had to assume she had gone out the window.

                Finally he made one more sally into the living room, realized the door was the way out and flew away. Sigh of relief. Only now I didn’t have a clue where my strictly-indoor cat had gone. I went outside a couple of times, no cat. I decided to look under the bed, but as soon as I pulled up the bed flounce to look, both dogs put their noses under the bed, leaving no room for me. Finally, after 15 minutes or so, the cat came sauntering out of the bedroom. At last, all was well. For awhile.

                Wednesday at 9:45 am, I’m in the computer room. I get up to go into the kitchen and notice that my cat is interested in something in the Palladian window. I look up. There is a hummer trying to get out that window. Déjà vu. This one was an immature male Anna’s just beginning to feather out into his adult plumage. He really was frantic. Unlike the Costa’s in the same position, he didn’t rest on the valance for more than one or two seconds. He was more excitable than the Costa’s, really throwing himself against the glass window pane. Of course I got my camera and from a distance took his picture during the brief moment he was resting on the valance.

Anna's hummer inside the house

                At least this time I had more of an idea of what to do. I went through the house and closed all the blinds, leaving the back door the only other source of light. Still he frantically pounded against the window. He was so fixated on that being his way out, he couldn’t even be bothered looking for a different route. I was trying to think of what I could do to get him to leavet. My dogs were doing their best to help, again by jumping up on me. My cat was totally entertained by watching the fluttering bird.

                To break his fixation I went and got the broom. As he fluttered around in the window, I carefully placed the bristles between him and the glass. With that he quickly turned around, flew through the house and went out the back door.

                I closed the back door and decided two things I need to do: 1. Get a screen for the door. 2. Get a shutter for the Palladian window so it would no longer look like a light at the end of the tunnel.

                               

Hummingbirds, finches and mockingbirds in Las Vegas NV—autumn sees plenty of bird activity

                Here we are two-thirds of the way through October and the birding scene at Las Vegas hummingbird feeders is still hopping. Costa’s and Anna’s hummer come regularly to feed. True to their natures, Costa’s sticks around for picture time and Anna’s leaves at the least provocation. I was watching an Anna’s male feed at the north feeder. He didn’t perch, but fed while hovering above the feeder. When he finished he turned to look at me watching him from the window. The sun was just at the right angle to cause his gorget to flash a wonderful rosy red and he quickly flitted away. Even if I had camera in hand it would have done me no good. He was too fast for my camera.

                Costa’s hummer must be a natural ham. He just loves getting his picture taken. True to form the Costa’s male that came to feed at the west side feeder perched at the feeder, took a long drink of sweet water. Then he hung around long enough for me to grab my camera, focus and snap a picture, and another, and another until I had four pictures to choose from.

Young Costa's still feathering out on Oct 14, 2013

                I wasn’t so fortunate today. I was outside, a young finch sporting his just beginning pink chest landed on the ant moat of the feeder. He wasn’t interested in drinking water. To him it was just a resting place where he could softly chirp. While he sat there a hummer flew in, sat on a perch right below the finch and got himself a nice long drink of sweet water. All this happened in front of me. I had plenty of time to take the picture, if only I had had my camera. Such is life.

                As I finish my walk with the dogs in the morning the first light of day starts to show up on the eastern horizon. The mockingbirds greet the coming dawn before any other bird even knows it is coming. There is one bird sings that time of day that causes me to think ‘Robin.’ Then he continues his song and throws in some more of his mimicking so I know it is not a robin, just my mockingbird. I don’t have robins in my neighborhood. I do know that robins are common just four miles from my house. Now I have to wonder:  where did my mockingbird learn the robin’s morning song. Is he a transplant from further south? Or are there robins closer to my neighborhood than I know about?

Mockingbird sitting on my neighbor's roof vent, one of her favorite places to chirp from.

                I decided to check out the closest location of a reported robin sighting to my neighborhood on http://ebird.org/ebird/map/ only to find they had one sighting of a robin and that was on Mt. Charleston. It’s time to get birds submitting species sightings. Then I decided I had better take my own advice and report my Costa’s sighting of this morning. The latest sighting of the Costa’s hummingbird in Las Vegas NV is November 4. That’s a little more the two weeks away. It will be interesting to see if mine stays longer than that. Two more weeks and I’ll know!

Mid-October Update at Hummingbird Feeders in Las Vegas NV – Costa’s present, Finches gone

                My hummingbird feeder in Las Vegas NV is still busy. I regularly see hummers visiting. I thought maybe the Costa’s hummingbirds were gone for the winter when more showed up. I heard the whistling then saw one at the feeder. I knew it was a Costa’s because if its size and tail length even though I couldn’t see the color on the gorget or the flaring sides. The other give away as to its identity was that he stayed and stayed on the perch, letting me take numerous pictures of him while I slowly moved closer in. Only the Costa’s is that cooperative.

                When I edited the photo of my most congenial model I had to laugh. Sorry Costa’s I know it was rude, but at least you weren’t there to hear me. It was a male just coming into his adult plumage. It must have come from the last brood, since it was still so early in its molt. When a bird grows new feathers they first appear totally encased in a shaft. At this point the feather looks like a pin sticking out of the bird, hence the name pin feather. As the feather grows the shaft splits and the feather emerges. At first just the tip of the feather pops out and looks very fluffy, and then the rest of the feather emerges, smooths out and looks like what we think of as a feather. When the bird just has the pin feathers he looks scruffy indeed. My male Costa’s was at that stage. In the picture you can see the pin feathers as little white shafts sticking out of the bird’s gorget. The gorget is just about half way through its development so there is still a lot left to happen before it becomes his crowning glory.

The white spots on the throat are pin feathers, newly emerging feathers.

                About the same time I saw a finch on my feeder. He wasn’t getting a drink of water. He was just sitting on one of the perches checking things out. This was also a young male. He was just in the process of getting his red chest and face plumage. I didn’t get a picture of him so I couldn’t tell if he had some feathers still in the pin stage as well. That was the last finch I have seen at my feeder. Since they  just come to drink  water from the ant moats, I am really surprised they are gone. I haven’t even seen on in my yard or heard the male’s song. The last of the finches must have joined the flocks and moved on to where their feed, which consists primarily of weed seeds, is more abundant than in my small back yard.

                For now I have had a switch from last week. Hummers are out numbering finches at my hummingbird feeder in Las Vegas NV.

               

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.