That is a good resource. My wife bought me a book about identifying birds, but you have to know about them first before you can look them up.
Muse, I hope that feeder works OK. I have not seen one like that before.
That is a good resource. My wife bought me a book about identifying birds, but you have to know about them first before you can look them up.Anna's hummingbird sticks around the entire US west coast all year. Costa's hummingbird are found around SoCal and down into baja. The others (black chinned, rufous, etc.) will migrate up your way from Mexico.
The Cornell Lab is a good resource on all things bird -
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/
I'll deploy it tomorrow. Everything should be ready. I cooked up the nectar this afternoon. The ant moat was leaking and I repaired it. My two ant moats (I think I'm going to shorten the longer one):That is a good resource. My wife bought me a book about identifying birds, but you have to know about them first before you can look them up.
Muse, I hope that feeder works OK. I have not seen one like that before.
That is a good resource. My wife bought me a book about identifying birds, but you have to know about them first before you can look them up.
Muse, I hope that feeder works OK. I have not seen one like that before.
It seems like, around here, trash cans are the bears' main source of food. I swear...they know what days what streets will put their cans out for pickup...If natural food is available (plants and flowers), you might want to cut back a bit. Kind of like bears and trash bins, too much 'human' non natural food might not be best.
I wasn't thinking. I put out two feeders a couple days ago pretty much full of nectar, but AFAIK no hummingbird has been near them. Yesterday, I cooked up another 1 quart batch of nectar, but before filling a 3rd feeder I reasoned that I should NOT fill the thing, I'm probably just going to have to dump the 16 ounces of sugar water in a week. So, I scoop out a cup or so of nectar from one of the already deployed feeders to put in the 3rd when I set it up yesterday, refrigerating the quart I'd just cooked up after it cooled. I figure the feeders have to be discovered before anything will happen. The one that was hanging out in my yard at the top of a 30 foot tall plum tree wasn't around yesterday. The tree is breaking out in blooms to the extent that its favorite perch kind of disappeared, I guess.I have a problem.
The feeders were empty, I think it was last night and I filled them right before dark. We went out today and when we got back at 2:30 they were empty. I filled the 2 blue ones with 2 cups of sugar water each and by 6:00 they both were empty. That means that these little guys at 4 cups of sugar water in less than 4 hours.
I need to buy more sugar.
The ones with the full red head are male Anna's hummingbird. The incomplete purple headed one you have there is male Costa's hummingbird. You should also see ones with purple chins, no purple flaring around the neck and green heads, that will be male Black-chinned hummingbird. The females of all those species are green and very hard to tell apart.So I got my good camera working. Just went out to the feeders and took some pictures. SO interesting when you can see the details of these little guys.
When I took this picture it was to show the head the red one in the back. Normally their heads look black, but when the light hits them they flouresce and turn red or purple. When I looked at the one in the front it looks like a juvenille, he looks like he is growing the red flourescing feathers. Others who know more can tell me I am wrong.
I took a hike up into the hills today, about 5 miles from my house. Elevation from my house was 1000 feet, 1100 above sea level. Saw lots of hummingbirds flying. At my house at 80 feet above sea level, I'm seeing none. When it warms up I suppose I will see some. As soon as at least one sees my feeders I suppose the secret will be out.I haven't spotted a HB in my yard since I put out my 3 feeders. Before that I would spot one every day. I suppose when it warms up they will come.
I suppose I'll never figure out how to identify hummingbird species or their sex. I am "total green blind."The ones with the full red head are male Anna's hummingbird. The incomplete purple headed one you have there is male Costa's hummingbird. You should also see ones with purple chins, no purple flaring around the neck and green heads, that will be male Black-chinned hummingbird. The females of all those species are green and very hard to tell apart.
Just saw my 1st one.I have a problem.
The feeders were empty, I think it was last night and I filled them right before dark. We went out today and when we got back at 2:30 they were empty. I filled the 2 blue ones with 2 cups of sugar water each and by 6:00 they both were empty. That means that these little guys at 4 cups of sugar water in less than 4 hours.
I need to buy more sugar.
Thanks for the info. I have been looking at them with binoculars from about 20 feet away, but the little buggers are so fast I can't really see much detail. I can see so much more detail in these pictures. Now that I am back from our solar eclipse trip and starting to get over this stupid cold I can play around with the camera.The ones with the full red head are male Anna's hummingbird. The incomplete purple headed one you have there is male Costa's hummingbird. You should also see ones with purple chins, no purple flaring around the neck and green heads, that will be male Black-chinned hummingbird. The females of all those species are green and very hard to tell apart.
Maybe you can teach Muse what to do to get some hummingbirds.Just saw my 1st one.
Couple of years back, the feeder was defective so when the wind blew, it emptied.
I figure warmer weather will bring them back. There was a resident HB a couple weeks ago.Maybe you can teach Muse what to do to get some hummingbirds.
It's a hummingbird, so hum to it.Maybe you can teach Muse what to do to get some hummingbirds.
That is cool. Love the nests with the baby birds.I've got a House Sparrow nest under an overhang where I can see it from a window. Two weeks ago, the young had just hatched and you could just see their wide open beaks wobbling waiting for Mom. Now they're nearly full grown and moving around quite a bit looking as if they're about to try their luck in the world.
Mom looks sort of like this:
And the young are very similar from what little I can see so far..