2012 Ruby Throated Hummingbirds

Here is the (juvenile male) female sticking out his tongue perched on the top of the wisteria growing in our backyard. This was taken in February 2012.



This message was edited Mar 28, 2012 8:49 AM

Congrats MajiA on your hummingbird. Have you seen him again since?

Thank you Lily Love. Yes, he hung around for more than a month before he was chased away by another more mature male who is now hogging the feeders and the flowers in our backyard :) However, he is elusive and so no photos to speak of. I also see another hummer sometimes, who gets chased out, and hence I do not know if it is this guy.

You just described a typical activity of my hummers in the garden. Though, this year I haven't seen them yet. It could be any day now. Thank you for sharing yours.

Lovely! There has been some talk among the Illinois listserv about people thinking they are sighting early Ruby-Throat HBs when in fact they may be different species. And that photo makes me wonder if it is not a Rufous or something with that coppery tail. Maybe it is just the light.

Been asked to look in here ;-)

It does look rufous at the base of the tail, so it could be a Selasphorus hummer (Rufous / Allen's / Broad-tailed), but I'd like to see more pics to be sure - like you say, a trick of the light is also possible.

Resin

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have ANY kind of hummingbird at my feeder, but it would be extra cool to have an unlikely species at my feeder.

Nice to see the first photo of the year already!!

There have been reports of hummers sighted in S.E Michigan too...very early!

Thank you for your comments. It will be so cool if he turns out to be Rufous. Those are very rare on this side of the Mississippi River. I will look through the archives and see if there are more pics of that guy. Now that you say it, I think he did look large for a RT male. My wife made a comment to that effect, but we really did not make any additional effort to identify him better.

There were two mature RT males duking it out at our feeder this weekend. It is really fun watching them trying to out smart the other. :)

They are a hoot, I agree. I could spend hours watching them.

I now see clearly that he/she was not a Ruby Throat. Here are some more photos. However, I have to apologize because they are not very clear. Hope it helps.

That's so interesting that you've got to see one of the Western hummingbirds on your neck of the woods. MajiA. Congrats.

AWESOME! you got the little sweetheart on its way back west I guess. I don't know ID of these very well, but I think that the fan tail shot might be good for ID. Resin???


edited to say that if you get an ID, maybe you can post the sighting to eBird.

This message was edited Mar 26, 2012 8:19 PM

COOL......and Congrats!!

Yep, that fanned tail makes i.d. possible; it has fairly broad outer tail feathers, making it a female Rufous. Good catch!

Resin

Thank you everyone for getting us so excited about this rare find.

Yippee. Is that a lifer for you? Again, I encourage you to post that sighting to ebird. If The sighting is rare enough for your area, then you'll likely get an email from them asking for picture evidence. At least that is my experience.

Maybe this thread should be renamed, too ;-)

Resin

Thank you Mrs. Ed and I did post it on eBird based on your suggestion.

Thats okay, leave it the way it is. It will be fine. :-)

There is often a Rufous confused as a Ruby-throated.

Congrats again MajiA!

Woohooo!!! I saw my R.T. hummer again today...just now. I'll see about camping out and get a pix.

Here goes! Got my hummer!

Yay!!!!!

Oh gosh, they are so cute!!!!

Way to go Lily!

Good shots!

A RT male at our feeders. He and another male are duking it out for control and it is fun to watch them.

Nice one MajiA!

Great images Lily Love... I love that image of the little rascal drinking from the flowers.

DH saw 2 today while I was at the dentist. So far I haven't seen any. Oh well. This is about a week early for here.

Congrats to MajiA and Lily_love, The first ones to see the return of the hummers!! And nice photos !! None here yet but I'm getting hopefull seeing both of yours! I'm sure you will be seeing yours really soon Vbeclu727!!

Congratulations to MajiA and Lily. Love your hummers.

MajiA, I do hope you reported your rufous to ebird.org. It's very exciting for all birders.

Have 2 feeders out now but often spotted any hummers here yet. The apple tree across the road is blooming and that is always my sign to get ready for the orioles!

Congrats to MajiA and Lily...your Hummers are too adorable.

Like Nanny I have two feeders and so far no Hummers. Also the neighbors apple trees are blooming so anxiously awaiting the Orioles too! It doesn't get much better than this for
a birder!!

Thanks all. Feeders are up here too, Rose. I'm looking out for more new arrivals. Hope to have more pics. to share soon. Not tomorrow, but maybe Sunday. :)

Thank you everyone and also thanks for the tip on ebird. I entered our sighting there.

I spotted my male R.T. hummer twice again today. Still don't see him at the feeder. He still very enticed with the honeysuckles blooms.

Couple more pictures of the male RT hogging the feeder.

Very nice MajiA.

Your hummer is a cutie MajiA.

Lily, your blooms are beautiful!

Hoping more of you folks will soon see your little feathered friends.

Seen my first hummer this evening, Unfortunately, I was unable to get a photo because I only seen him at the feeder the one time, Hopefully tommorrow he will be back and I will get a photo this time!! .... So happy to see one though!!