WESTERN HUMMINGBIRDS VOL.8

Dirt, you're imagination is wild, how much of that wine are you drinking? LOL

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and your little hummers.

Dirt you are a soulmate. Please be sure to route those beautious hummers from north to south. Although I whine, I am in the time of the cold and the dark and no hummer should come here now. This is the time of the winter fairys and snowy owls. Little hummers would perish in the time of the cold and the dark. .All the winter birds in my garden agree that hummers coming north now is a bad idea. Just in case you believe in winter fairys, they say 'hummers are not crystally'. I have no idea what that means but I am just passing on that info

LOL-- Duc, yep -- the wine might of contributed alittle to this.
The maps was actually Margaret's fault-- you see, if she hadn't
eloquently described the history of eucalyptus trees, which I didn't know,
none of my wonderful cartography would of made these pages. Thank god the
early voyagers didn't rely on my skills, they would all come back and
say the world was really flat. Anyways the hummer wanted to see the
brilliant flame trees I rave about but can't grow. You know Duc probably
more than me, how inquisitive they are.

pretty in the rhodies.

(Had a great Thanksgiving, hope you did too.)
(Margaret--please don't stop the wonderful information, I like drawing pictures)

Dahlia- believing --seeing 'fairies'? once... or twice.
now That was tooo much wine.

suddenly he heard (saw?) another,
planning the ambush....
and zip he was gone.

Wonderful pics dirt!

thank you Pelle

Welcome back Dirt! Your little ones are really cute.

G'Morn Duc,
Little nippy out, 29 deg this AM, beautiful moon last night.
Looks like he's wearing his woolies.

Brrrr, Dirt, that's colder than our 35 deg. I agree, the moon was beautiful and still out this morning when I was filling the feeders. Another great shot!

My hummers are in the shade until late afternoon and they're staying in the thick brush where they can get the warm sun.

Will be sunny and cold nights, little guys hopefully
will bundle up, but they are still playing tag as I speak,
think I'll go out and see if I can get one to sit still.
Have a great day.

Great job Dirt! This is a darling photo. I hope you're watching for a tiny band on the legs of your hummers. We banded mostly Annas and Rufous hummers this year and there's a chance one or more of them will make their way north to your home.

Beautiful pics duc and dirt!!

The Selasphorus Hummingbird is still present in Cape May.

Anna and Weigela
They have mahonia and huckeberry to enjoy.
Most everything has frozen.

Looking for bands.

Such a sweet pic dirt!

Gorjus pics! ok we are now very blizzardous. Although good for curlaceous drifts and snowball fights definitely too brrrrrsome for hummers. Even the winter birds are only coming out for a quick feeds and burrowing into the evergreens for shelter. CYA at duc and dirts and southerly little buddy hummers. Please, please come visit me next spring on migration! I'm going to be in AZ and NM in 15 more sleeps. Hope to see you there!

I am so enjoying this thread. Duc, how did you band your birds? You think one may show
up my way since I'm south of you?

Glad you found you way here CC, welcome. It would be awesome if one of the banded birds ended up at your feeder. The bands are very tiny and hard to spot, but it's possible you may see one of our birds. Our banding station was a mile from the Napa county line-wayyyyyy out in the boonies! The best way to look for the bands is to keep checking your pictures closely.

I posted photos of the banding in this thread. They're mixed up so just keep scrolling down.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/963481/

Another little guy.

I'm still at 3 Annas here, 2 males and a female that gets chased off of both feeders. The good news is that there's still lots of eucalyptus and manzanita blooms in the area.

Cute pics duc!

Duc, Now I remember that banding program. It's amazing and of course so are
your pics. I'm still photo challenged on moving objects. LOL!!!!!

G'morn.
Duc, love the little guy watching you,
look at this one watching me carefully,
and after determining that I am a
non issue, went back to re-fueling.

Dahlia -- Your leaving that winter splendor and all of the
wonderful activity -- you know runny noses and frozen hands
for sandals and a tan? oh. the excruciating decision!
You got room for 3-4 hummers who are freezing their
little toes off? Have fun and enjoy every moment.
Maybe you'll get to see a few of the little guys sticking around.
Welcome CC.
Besides Duc's great photo-discussion, here's a link to banding AND southwest Arizona birding and hummers.
http://www.sabo.org/photoalb/banding.htm

This one was looking for high-octane, but regular works fine.

Cute little ones Dirt. It was 29 degrees this morning when we took the dogs for a walk. I don't know how these little birds can store so much energy to fly. Mine don't see very much snow and we're expecting it tonight. Can't wait to see what they will do.

Looks like this one has a fur coat.

I haven't figured out where the orange pollen on their bills is coming from yet.

You can see it pretty good here.

Just one more of this tough guy for today.

Oops, forgot to add the photo.

duc good catch of the 'feather poofing' as I like to call it.

Duc, I just love them. I heard you were or are suppose to get snow. Did you? It's going
to be 30' here tonight. That's not too common.

Yes I heard too that our cold front dropped down as far as Mexico. Brrrrrrr! Hoping it skipps you all in CA.

Its 14 deg F this early morning.
Yesterday out in the tundra this guy was enjoying the sunshine.

It was cold all day long (cold around here means just below freezing)
Yes we are all spoiled and lightweights when it comes to temps.

He didn't wander too far off from the feeder and chased off 3-4 others
who dove in to the feeder and tried to gulp down as much in little time before this
guy noticed them. He was watching me put up outdoor lights-- (I was working
7-8 feet away and struggling with tangled wires- which I just organized in
the nice warm pleasant garage-created a ruckus and another hummer snuck up low and got
to drink heartily-- once I saw it I did my stupid raspy imitation and it must
entertain the king -- I do get him to look and watch me-- but finally noticed his guarded
valuables were being sipped away and took after it.)
I can get 3-4 feet from it and doesn't bother him much as long as I move slow and rasp away
a few times and talk to him about the days events, my feelings and my plans to take over the planet.
He understands.

I have to set this cheap little camera on macro setting
to focus him in.
I asked him to smile and all I got was this.

Duc and dirt your hummers are so cute!

well dirt, certainly looks like he's willing to help you take over the world!

I have officially added 'When Hummers Rule the World' to my list of 'Books that Need to be Written'.

It's colder in dirt's neighborhood than mine CC. The snow missed us and our surrounding mountains-darn it. We woke to 22 degrees, but the radio guy said it was 19. It's just all cold to me! There's steam coming off the lake and it looks like a giant jacuzzi. Yes, dirt, I agree, we're all wimps when that cold front arrives. At least when it snows, it seems to be warmer to me.

Dirt, your little guy does look quite grumpy. Glad you can stand closer to him now-great photos. Now you have to start telling him some jokes so his disposition improves. Either that or tell him it will be warmer tomorrow!!