Hummers in the garden

I live on a hillside east of San Diego. We have lots of hummingbirds (especially this time of year). The little Allen's and Rufouses have arrived and are making life hell for the Anna's, Calliopes and Black-chinned.

-Ron-

Here's a young male Anna's just starting to mature into his color. He sits on this little branch in the olive tree most of the day watching the little devil dive-bombers (Rufouses and Allen's).

-Ron-

Ron, neat to see a hummer sitting still. Doesn't happen all that often, thanks for sharing.

Nice to see such a clear and confirmed shot of a Rufous, RW, -- I think I have only Anna's here, some distance north of you.

And, hey hi, Blooms -- how are the twins doing???

~'spin!~

Blooms, hummers spend approximately 60% of the time perched, for they can not consume enough calories from nectar or feeders to support constant movement. I live in Montgomery, AL and a couple of years ago I was really lucky to have an adult male Annas spend almost two months in my yard in the fall. I think it would have stayed longer, but a Rufous showed up and ran it off. Yes, Rufous are really mean, if they can not run off other hummers, they will try to harm them. Every couple of years I will have a wintering hummer in my yard. So far, I have had Allens(2), Annas(1), Rufous(several), Blackchined(1) and of course Rubys. During fall migration of the Rubys I will feed approximately 1/2 to 1 gal of sugar water daily to the hummers. I am still hoping to get a few other wintering species in my yard, Calliope, Broad Tailed, Buff Bellied and a few others that have been banded in and around Alabama during the fall and winter.

Man!! .. I envy all of you .. and your varied hummer breed visitors !! Dang gummit! (lol)
Unless I'm just somehow missing seeing any of the other breeds that may have come thru or by: it's only been the Ruby Throat for us here at the Roost ... The Rubys 'sit' just as much as they're daring here there and about. They have some particular favored resting perches .. in the trees nearby to the porch, and ON the porch for that matter! So fascinating a little critter ...

RWhiz .. those are GOR-JES!! .. Some great pics!

'spin~ the twins have flown the coop. I posted in the wild life forum. Out there with my camera reaching up for my pic and WHIRR the two took off in an instant and were gone.

I'd been gone the day before and I think they must've spent that day practising. They've not been back to the nest even at nite since. This is the pic I took the morning, before I left for the day. They were definitely crowded in there. That morning they left they were sitting straight up in the nest and I shoulda shot one pic from ground level.

Blooms, what a neat picture. At my old place I knw where a Roufus nest was and took some pictures of the babies. So tiny. But here where I have even more hummers I cannot locate any nests and i know there have to be several. My yard is the only yard within miles that has lots of flowers. My nearest neighbor has lots of trees and some flowers, but for some reason I just can't locate a tiny hummer nest.

RWhiz, you done good with your pictures of hummers. One reason that i have feeders all around my house is because of the agressive nature of the male Roufus. They surely are fun to watch. Little rascal sits on a limb of a bush closeby and if another hummer goes to the feeder he's right after them. Donna

I just took these two shots early this afternoon of a little male Costa's hummingbird. Enjoy.

-Ron-

Here's another pic of the little guy.

-Ron-

I thought I would ad this one too. I don't know what species she is. Just a little female feeding off a salvia.

-Ron-

Nice of the Costa to let you get his picture. They don't hold still good do they? And the lady on the mex sage is happy feeder. They do like the sages. Our hummers have departed for warmer climes. You probably get to have them all winter. :>))

Hi Blooms,

I went on a driving vacation almost two years ago. It was in February but the weather was surprisingly wonderful. Went through Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Lake Powell, Canyonlands, Arches, Mesa Verde, Four Corners, Monument...it was wonderful. I stopped and stayed in Moab.

I tried to get a pic of the male Black-chinned today also. He especially loves the Thevetia. Sometimes he hovers right in front of me, but today he was being difficult. I'll try again and post a pic of him. The most common around here is the Anna's. They are here year round, the others seem to migrate. In the summer we get the Rufous and the Allen's. In the winter we get the Costa's, Black-chinned, and even on rare occassions the Calliope.

I'm not a hummer expert, so I have problems identifying the females, but the males are pretty distinct.

I've got to bone up on my birds because I get three kinds of hawks and about three other, smaller kinds of birds of prey. I don't know if they are kites or falcons or what. Last weekend I saw four buzzards overhead. In the spring I'll see the Canada geese and the white pelicans migrate. That's quite a sight.

-Ron-

I haven't heard the Canadas yet this fall which is surprising as usually they are my signal for winter. You get to see the white pelicans? Until they turned up missing in the Dakotas this summer I hadn't even heard of such a bird.

'turned up missing' great phrase that - what? We joined DG in the same month this year.

Yuppers, this is quite the state for wild and wonderful scenery. The corner of the state with Zion in it just had a hundred years flood. One place over there got some amazing amount of rain - like 10 inches of water out of this one storm and the Virgin River has risen over 25 feet above normal level. They're calling it an hundred year event. Keep posting Ron, I'll see ya round the forums. ~Blooms

Can you id this guy for me?

This is the other player in my backyard theater.

as this is

and this

Hi monterey,

Well, like I said, I'm not an expert on hummingbirds, but...I'll take a stab on this one--I think it's a Costa's. If he has deep blue on his cap and a deep blue gorget that spikes out like a tie--then it's a Costa's. The Black-chinned has a solid area of black and then a deep blue gorget and a green cap.

I'm sure we must get strays like anywhere but the only regular ones are Anna's, Rufous, Allen's, Black-chinned, Costa's, and Calliope. The few Calliope's I've seen (and there haven't been many) are noticeably smaller than the other birds.

Once I saw a hummer one evening that was noticeably larger than any I've seen, but I haven't a clue what species.

This site has some fairly decent images of the birds: http://www.otterside.com/htmfiles/hummer1.htm#human2

-Ron-

Monterey - love your hummer pics.. ];>)

I do too that's why I take them. I hope with the 50 or so plants and the feeders I have I'll keep them around, my backyard has become my studio.

RWhiz - great link. Thanks.