It’s late spring with summer just around the corner and that means one thing — the hummingbirds are back!
Are you seeing hummers in your yard or out and about? I sure am.
Because I live in California, we have Anna’s hummers year round, but they’re especially active starting now. I have four hummingbird feeders in various locations around my front yard, back yard and patio.
On Monday, I was returning a refilled feeder to its spot hanging from a branch on a backyard tree when a hummer approached me. It had flown to the branch where the feeder should be (they learn and map them) only to see me approaching with the missing feeder. Before I could hang it, the hummer landed and started drinking while I held the feeder in my outstretched arm! I had to wait for it to finish before I could reach up and hang the feeder back on the branch! This has never happened to me before.
In my experience, non-birders know four birds: pigeons, seagulls, crows and HUMMINGBIRDS! I say hummingbirds in all caps because that’s how you usually hear the enthusiasm of a non-birder. How many times have you heard this? “You like birds? You know what I just LOVE? HUMMINGBIRDS! They’re so cute and tiny! My mother/sister/aunt/cousin has a hummingbird feeder and I could just watch them ALL DAY!”
Nobody doesn’t like hummingbirds.
I love them too, but around my neck of the woods in Northern California, I pretty much just see Anna’s with the occasional Allen’s and Rufous. The Allen’s and Rufous are impossible to tell apart in the field because the distinguishing characteristic between the two is the shape of individual tail feathers. Not something you can see at a backyard feeder. The individual below is an Allen’s which I know because it was taken in April, too early a time for the Rufous to show up in my area.
See all that rusty, orangish coloring? Anna’s don’t have that.
Here’s another Anna’s taken in my yard.
Hummingbirds can be a real challenge to photograph. They move so very fast, that unless you catch one hovering at a feeder or perched, you’re not likely to get a shot. Hummingbirds’ rapid wing-flapping rates, typically around 50 times per second, according to Wikipedia, allow them to fly at speeds exceeding 15 m/s (34 mph). That’s pretty amazing.
You may also know that hummingbirds have unique flight capabilities. According to Avian Web, “They have skeletal and flight muscle adaptations that allow them to rotate their wings almost 180° - enabling them to fly forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways, even upside down. The unique structure of their wings allows them to beat their wings in a figure-of-eight pattern, making them capable of intricate aerial manouvers, including remaining stationary in the air, enabling them to hover in front of flowers as they feed on nectar. In fact, these tiny birds are more maneuverable than helicopters.” Here’s the link to the sources and I encourage you to check it out for more interesting facts and some of the most incredible hummingbird photos you’ll ever see. www.beautyofbirds.com/…
A few years back, I had the good fortune to be staring out the window at my dentist’s office as I was reclining in the chair waiting for a teeth cleaning to begin. I noticed a hummingbird flitting in and out to a tree branch out the window. I told my dentist (who happens to love and indulge in nature photography himself) that I thought there was a hummingbird nest nearby. We were able to spot it and I came back the next day and, standing on a ladder, got this shot.
Hummingbird nests vary quite a lot by species. Here are some fun facts cited in an article in Birds and Blooms magazine; link here.
Anna’s hummingbird females build a mere platform as early as December to lay her eggs. Then she builds up the nest while incubating.
Black-Chinned hummingbird nests are deep cups, and the rim may be curved inward.
Blue-throated hummingbird nests are often built on electric wire inside or outside of cabins.
Broad-billed hummingbirds will build their loosely constructed nests on clotheslines.
Broad-tailed hummingbirds often returns to same nesting site year after year.
Calliope hummingbirds will build a series of two, three or even four nests on top of one another, often attached to a conifer cone.
Costa’s hummingbirds will colonize at favorable sites with as many as six nests in a 100-foot radius. The birds are very tame at nesting sites.
Magnificent hummingbirds build the largest and highest of North American hummingbird nests.
Ruby-throated females attach their nests with spider silk to a small twig or branch that slants downward and covers the outside with greenish-gray lichens. They may lay eggs in a second nest while still feeding the young in the first.
Rufous hummingbirds, a western species, are very pugnacious around the nest, often driving away much larger bird.
Here’s a photo of an Anna’s Hummingbird I’ve posted before, but I never tire of sharing it.
Do you have many hummingbirds where you live? Feel free to share photos here if you’d like. Those of you in the east may have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds which we don’t have here in California. A couple of other species we have out here include the Black-throated Hummingbird which I’ve only ever seen once and the Calliope Hummingbird which I’ve never seen. There are many more species, of course, but unless you’re down in the Gulf of Mexico and into tropical areas, they scarely are seen in North America except in southern Arizona and coastal Texas. If any of you have photos from those areas, please share! Here’s a range map showing our most common North American species.
A few other scattered hummingbird photos to share:
Here’s a last photo of an Anna’s I took early this year on a very cloudy day up at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. I wish it were sharper with better light, but I was just glad to get the shot before he took off.
What’s going on in your birding world of late? News of hummers or other birds to share? Do tell.