Hummingbirds - Bird Talk.

[Stopsignhank]

Congrats use. Now you have to buy the 5 pound bags of sugar!!!

So for my birthday I was given a Birdfy birdfeeder. This is the first bird that stopped by. How cool is this? It comes with software to identify the bird. This is a house finch.

https://imgur.com/a/L9Cc79h

 

[Muse]

3 of my feeders are officially discovered. There appears to be competition out there, some territoriality. I see HB's chasing off others. A couple seem to get along, will both sit on a feeder no problem, but when they see me (suddenly), fly off. Good that I have a gigantic plum tree (which is covered with plums now!) the HBs like to perch in it, maybe sleep in it overnight.

I put out a 4th feeder a couple days ago but it hasn't been discovered AFAIK. It's a window feeder (kitchen window!) and the only one that is invisible from the other feeders, which form a triangle and can all see each other.

I cracked a 10lb bag of sugar a couple weeks ago.

I'll try to get some decent pictures and post here. Hope to get identification of species.

 

[Muse]

Here's a hummer I just saw, perched 3 feet from one of my feeders. What species is it? I'm thinking maybe Black-chinned based on some pictures I'm seeing online. The book I just read said those all migrate, I guess to Mexico, in the winter.

 

[Crotulus]

Here's a hummer I just saw, perched 3 feet from one of my feeders. What species is it? I'm thinking maybe Black-chinned based on some pictures I'm seeing online. The book I just read said those all migrate, I guess to Mexico, in the winter.

Looks like a Black-chinned. For quick hummingbird ID -
Purple chin with no flares = Black-chinned male
Purple chin with flares = Costa's male
Red head and chin (and larger than the others) = Anna's male
Orange head with brown sides = Rufous male

All the females will pretty much be green and difficult to ID. Anna's will always be the largest bird you see and generally the most aggressive at pushing other birds away from feeders.

 

[Muse]

Looks like a Black-chinned. For quick hummingbird ID -
Purple chin with no flares = Black-chinned male
Purple chin with flares = Costa's male
Red head and chin (and larger than the others) = Anna's male
Orange head with brown sides = Rufous male

All the females will pretty much be green and difficult to ID. Anna's will always be the largest bird you see and generally the most aggressive at pushing other birds away from feeders.

So, does it look like a female or a male?

I have some trouble with colors because I'm partially color blind. I can NEVER EVER make a positive identification for green. I can guess green, but I am never ever certain. I'm missing the green cones in my eyes.

How can you ID for Allen's?

I think I might have some Anna's out there. I saw one HB today that looked pretty big. Also, there's some serious aggression. Doesn't look deadly, but looks like HB's are being chased away from my feeders when they approach, quite often. Also, looks like a HB is kind of staking out. The feeders are at the points of a triangle that's maybe 25 feet on a side.

 

[Crotulus]

So, does it look like a female or a male?

I have some trouble with colors because I'm partially color blind. I can NEVER EVER make a positive identification for green. I can guess green, but I am never ever certain. I'm missing the green cones in my eyes.

How can you ID for Allen's?

I think I might have some Anna's out there. I saw one HB today that looked pretty big. Also, there's some serious aggression. Doesn't look deadly, but looks like HB's are being chased away from my feeders when they approach, quite often. Also, looks like a HB is kind of staking out. The feeders are at the points of a triangle that's maybe 25 feet on a side.

The Costa's in your photo is male. Females are almost all green.

Can you see the purple, red or orange feathers? Costa's, Black-chinned and Anna's will all have green bodies so that should look some consistent shade to you. You'll need to look at the head and chin colors and shape to ID the males of those three. Again, females will be all green.

Male Allen's look a lot like male Rufous. It can be difficult to distinguish the two. If you can see the orange head with brown sides and whatever green translates to you, you'll know you have one of these.

Calliope hummingbird may be rare in the bay area. Males will look like a smaller Costa's with purple streaking flares on the chin but nothing on the head.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I can't tell a Hawk from a Falcon from a Kiting, but whatever has been hanging around the house here recently posed for me on a stump about 20' away this morning. Couldn't get a camera shot before it left though.


I call it Squawky Hawk because of the shrill squawking/screeching call it often makes. I say 'it', but there are at least two that work together and they all look alike to me.

 

[Stopsignhank]

My wife, who is not necessarily a fan of the hummingbird feeders, made sure to point this out to me.

 

[Muse]

All 4 of my feeders are now well known in my yard. 3 are at corners of an equilateral triangle 30 feet on a side. The 4th isn't visible from the others and attaches to a kitchen window, the last to be discovered. Even it gets a bit of territorial squabble, but I've only seen that happen once.

 

[bbhaag]

Was sitting out on the back deck and saw this little guy hovering over the zinnias.

We don't do hummingbird feeders or anything like that but we do plant a lot of plants that butterflies and bees like. A nice side effect of that is we also get hummingbirds.

 

[BoomerD]

All 4 of my feeders are now well known in my yard. 3 are at corners of an equilateral triangle 30 feet on a side. The 4th isn't visible from the others and attaches to a kitchen window, the last to be discovered. Even it gets a bit of territorial squabble, but I've only seen that happen once.

View attachment 104345

Nice...FINALLY!

Was sitting out on the back deck and saw this little guy hovering over the zinnias.

We don't do hummingbird feeders or anything like that but we do plant a lot of plants that butterflies and bees like. A nice side effect of that is we also get hummingbirds.
View attachment 104493

We've always tried to keep flowering plants that attract hummingbirds...but when we moved in here, the deer kept mowing them down...and since I got my backyard fenced...I've been too busted up to get a bed ready to plant.
Fortunately in the wilds behind our house, foxglove grows wild...and like crazy.

 

[BoomerD]

We've had nesting hummers all year. It's been fun watching the tiny babies learn to fly in the branched of the trees...but my how they've grown...

 

[bbhaag]

We've had nesting hummers all year. It's been fun watching the tiny babies learn to fly in the branched of the trees...but my how they've grown...

Looks great! If you have enough sun(4-6 hours or more)you should look into planting some zinnias, cuphea, or lantana in some pots around your outdoor area. Planting pots is way easier then installing a new flower bed and a nice side benefit is you get to change it up every year. Less weeding to! They are all deer and rabbit resistant and the hummers love them.

 

[BoomerD]

Looks great! If you have enough sun(4-6 hours or more)you should look into planting some zinnias, cuphea, or lantana in some pots around your outdoor area. Planting pots is way easier then installing a new flower bed and a nice side benefit is you get to change it up every year. Less weeding to! They are all deer and rabbit resistant and the hummers love them.

Deer resistant? You must read different lists than our deer do.
Lavender, coneflowers, (some varieties) daffodils, bearded irises...those do fine. Zinnias seem to be deer crack...not sure about cuphea...or lantana. We're in zone 9a.

 

[bbhaag]

Deer resistant? You must read different lists than our deer do.
Lavender, coneflowers, (some varieties) daffodils, bearded irises...those do fine. Zinnias seem to be deer crack...not sure about cuphea...or lantana. We're in zone 9a.

So yeah I was just trying to be helpful and give some suggestions for some deer and rabbit resistant plants that you could plant in pots instead of doing an entire flower bed. You mentioned you were to busted up after doing a fence install so I was just suggesting something that would be quick and easy.

If zinnias don't work in your area you should look at cupheas and lantana. They are crack for humming birds.

 

[BoomerD]

So yeah I was just trying to be helpful and give some suggestions for some deer and rabbit resistant plants that you could plant in pots instead of doing an entire flower bed. You mentioned you were to busted up after doing a fence install so I was just suggesting something that would be quick and easy.

If zinnias don't work in your area you should look at cupheas and lantana. They are crack for humming birds.

I’ve been busted up for over 20 years…but it gets worse as I get older.

I think zinnias do fine here…as long as you can keep the deer away from them. I’ve grown a couple of varieties of monarda over the years, and once I finlly force myself to get a french drain installed, I can get some stuff in the ground. I want a couple of “trumpet vines,” but have to find ones that aren’t invasive.

 

[skyking]

We have Anna's year round in the PNW, and rufous migrate through. The Anna males are arseholes. One will try to cover all the feeders. The migratory ones are better at cooperating and we will see a full feeder like the OP video.
Picture this: 6 hole feeder with 6 birds. This late comer hovers around, finds the smallest bird and picks it right off the feeder!
The victim is WTF and starting to fly, and the other bird settles in their spot.

 

[Stopsignhank]

I saw this in the store and quickly did the math. It is cheaper to go ahead and buy the 25 lb bag.

 

[Stopsignhank]

This little guy was lost. This is the camera from my bird feeder, not one of my hummingbird feeders.

https://imgur.com/a/ROk6UIt

 

[Muse]

I saw this in the store and quickly did the math. It is cheaper to go ahead and buy the 25 lb bag.

View attachment 105193

I used to get the 25lb bag at Costco. Am doing a Costco run this week and will snag one if they have it, otherwise the 10 pounder.

I'm noticing a lot of HB's in my vicinity now, not sure if it's the season or just that I'm keying on noticing them. My yard is a HB sanctuary now with it's 4 feeders, they're playing games, chasing one another at times but I haven't spotted any injured or dead birds. I have no idea if they're breeding or if there are any nests around.

 

[BoomerD]

Little fckrs are getting bold. If I’m out in the backyard and close to a feeder, they buzz me, hover and chirp at me…giving me notice that I’m too close to their feeder.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Came home and my wife said there was a hummingbird that came in and was in one of the skylights.



I have had this happen before so I got out the ladder and was able to catch it pretty fast. It was hot up there and I think it had been up there for a while. I took it outside and it did not seem to be doing too well. It just sat there and was breathing heavy. I could tell it was a young'un because the feathers were changing. Not sure it would make it.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Then after 10 minutes or so it pulled itself up to this position.



I felt better. I tried feeding it but it did not want to eat. I did not mess with it too much because I thought it was just exhausted and scared. Then it flew up to one of the feeders and started eating. Yay!!!!

https://imgur.com/a/Lpxoarm

 

[BoomerD]

Nice work.

 

[Muse]

If that happened to me I'd go online and look up hummingbird rescue for my area. Those folks (volunteers) take tons of calls, give info, advice, etc. If necessary, they accept struggling birds and usually manage to rehab them. I'm more than 1/2 way through my 2nd reading of Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood. I don't remember rereading a book right after finishing it before! Lots of insights into human nature as well as hummingbirds.