Rufous hummingbirds migrate to my neighborhood every spring, make a big splash breeding, and then depart to spend the winter in warmer southerly climes. They compete with the resident Anna’s hummingbirds all summer, who likely give a big sigh of relief when they have the yard (and feeders) to themselves in winter.
The first Rufous appeared on March 12 this year, later than usual, possibly because we’ve had a very cool grey spring so far. All the flowering plants that hummingbirds feed on are several weeks late in blooming so the hummers depend on the feeders outside my windows for now. For 5 days Mr Rufous was the only one, and then several more arrived. Things were fairly peaceable at the feeder for a few days.
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By yesterday many more had arrived, all males, and things were heating up.
It’s typical for the males to arrive first, staking out breeding territories. The females should be along any time.
Rufouses are all over the local bird news right now as they arrive in the Pacific Northwest and I just discovered that they have changed their wintering ground in recent years. The Cornell Ornithology site shows their winter range in California, the SW and Mexico.
But observations on the ground show them wintering in the Southeast US instead this year. The Journey North citizen science map is copyrighted so I can’t display it on this page, but if you go here, you’ll see winter sightings plotted on East Texas, Louisianna, Mississippi and Georgia.
And eBird, a very large scale global citizen science organization, also shows many reports over the past fifteen years or so of Rufouses wintering in the Southeast. My preliminary sampling of the thousands of reports from across the southern US and Mexico shows that most of the Rufous reports from southern California are shoulder- season. There are some wintering reports from central Mexico. The pattern from eBird suggests birds are mostly wintering in the SE, some in Mexico, then in migration they fly through the Southwest before congregating in the Northwest to breed.
The Audubon website currently shows Rufouses with the Cornell distribution ranges BUT they also show “strays” in the Southeast, and note that some are regularly wintering in the Gulf states.
A 2010 Audubon article reported SE-wintering Rufouses as a strange anomaly, with several hypotheses presented to explain the difference:
1) They’ve always been doing this but no one noticed, mistaking them for other species
2) They diverted to the SE from their usual winter sites on the way back north
3) There’s been an increase in suburban gardens and hummingbird feeders in the SE making it attractive for wintering
4) Habitat destruction in their Mexican wintering grounds has made that area unsuitable
5) Global warming has moderated winter temperatures in the SE allowing them to survive further north than they used to. Hard freezes have become fewer and shorter.
Likely it’s a combination of factors the Rufouses are trying to adapt to in our changing world. The Audubon link shows a prediction of how Rufous distribution is likely to be different geographically later this century due to global climate change. One difference is they will likely be breeding farther north, less concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. Currently some Rufouses are even seen in Alaska in summer!
Rufous hummingbirds are tough, but like many hummingbird species, their numbers are declining. Audubon reports their population has decreased from 12 million to 5 million between 1970 and 2010.
These Rufouses will be around into the summer. Then males will begin departing in June/July, flying back south by way of the Rockies following wildflower blooming. Females and juveniles will depart in August/September.
Things will be busy for a while, especially as dusk falls every evening. They mob the feeders. This is just one of my feeders, which I filled twice today.
Occasionally a Rufous will sit still for a moment and show off his gorget. Even in this dull grey weather he’s pretty spectacular.
Have you been noticing any changes in hummingbird behavior, summer or winter, where you live in the past few years or decades?
And as always,
Time for you to share whatever notable you’re seeing in your natural neighborhood . . .
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Thursday, Mar 23, 2017 · 10:51:27 PM +00:00 · OceanDiver
UPDATE: I saw a female Rufous today in the roses and thought she was the first.
However looking at my pix from yesterday, I see a female’s flared tail on the far side of the feeder in the second to last photo in the diary, above this new photo. She’s mostly hidden but that tail is distinctive. So, here’s the update:
March 22, 2017: first female Rufous
March 12, 2017: first male Rufous