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.
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| 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.
