Yesterday was a great day
because all of a sudden, I saw more Hummingbird activity than the whole season. There were at least two that were visiting all day. I think they are both young, a male and a female. The male is especially funny, he needed some time to fiigure out feeders. But he is also a super ham. And just turning into a man - with two tiny red specks on his throat, the beginnings of what gives the Rubythroated Hummingbird its name.
I hope you are not sick
of seeing Hummingbirds yet. Because here are some more from yesterday. I personally like this small feeder that we made ourselves because it centers the bird nicely in the frame, but as I mused before, it does not seem to be a favorite of the birds. However, yesterday, there was a very cooperative visitor, and I think maybe the regulars are snubbing me with the experimental feeders but the travelers are just hungry and go for anything. We had a big storm last night, which possibly helped migrants on their way south, so we will see how long the tiny winged jewels will still come here. I did see Orioles still yesterday too. If you want to follow bird migration along, check out https://birdcast.info, they have some really cool maps. Have a great Wednesday!
Hummingbird activity
has picked up a bit recently after a rather slow season. I can tell at least three individuals apart. A molting female, a heavily molting male and a perfectly looking female. I am playing around with different feeders, and I personally prefer the tiniest one with the hole in the middle because it centers the bird in the frame. However, not all of them like this one. I have seen it even that they snubbed it all day only to come back right away when I changed it for the other one. So funny.
Video: Yesterday at some point,
power came back for a little bit, but with lower voltage. We were hopeful, so I put the cameras back out, and they recorded for a little bit. Now this morning, we are back to no power and the generator. I am glad I decided early to use the generator because I had deadlines and did not want to risk damaging the computer or losing data. Anyways, in between that tiny timeframe, this adorable young hummer came to the grape jelly. I lowered the volume in this video to make the generator noise less noisy but you can still hear the tiny chirp. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day power-wise. I am beginning to tire of this.
First glimpse
at the class of ‘21 (well, one of them). It was once again mostly overcast today but I love that I saw several Rubythroated Hummingbirds. As probably many birdwatchers do, I have a very special spot for these minature warriors in my heart, first of all because I still cannot believe they come to my garden (where I grew up, in Germany, we don’t get Hummingbirds and they have alwqays been like an exotic miracle to me). These photos are not optimal but I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. More to come, it looks already like this year has more Hummingbird action than 2020!
Video: molting Hummer
I have mounted one of the Birdsy cameras by the Hummingbird feeder again. Now that the Orioles are slowly starting to migrate, Hummingbird activity might increase a bit for a couple of weeks. This one appears to be molting on the head.
I have said before
that birdwatching is a bit like eating seasonally for me. I try to make the best of what is available at the moment. So here is another Hummingbird photo, from yesterday. If you look closely, you can see a tiny red feather coming in as the start of the characteristical gorget of this teenage Rubythroated Hummingbird.
Tiny case of "Nope"
I saw a male Hummingbird today on the regular feeder and then decided to try and get video eith this cute little homemade button feeder. He did not come, but this one did, a female or younrgster. Also not happy about it haha I’ll give it another try tomorrow. I took the video with the GitUp camera at 60 fps and slowed it down a lot to show some of the cool flight movements.
This lady is a goofball
and she cracks me up! In the middle photo she saw another Hummingbird approaching. I am really enjoying it that their activity has picked up. This almost feels normal.
More hummingbirds!
And I think this might be a young male because I see a teensy hint of red coming in at the neck (I added an arrow pointing to it in the second photo). I love his fuzzy little legs. I am not sure if the second one is the same bird. The light was different and I cannot see the red but otherwise they look pretty much identical with the little bulge on the neck and the black feathers in front of the eye.
Video: Ruby-throated Hummingbird
What a weird day today. It was hot and humid and looked like 5 pm all day, and the lens fogged up. But a Hummerman came! I slowed the video down a lot to show off his cool manoeuvers.
Finally,
Finally, a Hummingbird on camera today! And a male to boot. They are so different this year. Very few, and the ones that I do see are super skittish. They go to a feeder, hover and check and then take off. We have some flowers but not a ton this year, things are still emerging, so I don't know what is going on. I am happy to see them every now and then but this is nowhere near previous years. Second pic I think is a House Wren. They seem to think the camera boxes are nestboxes 😂
Video: female Rubythroated Hummingbird
This little Rubythroated Hummingbird lady showed up in the evening yesterday. She seems to have some difficulty with the insect guards that I put over the ports, so I took these off today to help her getting used to it. It also looks like she has some spider webs on her tail, so hopefully she is building a nest somewhere.
I guess nature listens
when I complain :D Yesterday, I saw two Hummingbirds again! Here is the male, showing off that beautiful ruby red throat. If you look closely, you can see that he has pollen on the beak too. My flowers aren’t really there yet, but it feels like things are finally picking up. I also saw a Cedar Waxwing on the bird bath twice in the last two days, and I hope it comes back and sticks around a bit more so there will be video. The internet issues with the live stream should be resolved now, too. Wohoo!
The Hummingbird situation this year
is so different from previous years. Usually, by now I would have regulars. Few, but still. This year, I am seeing very little Hummingbird activity at all. I don’t know if it is because of the big storm that happened when they migrated or because so many more people are home and putting feeders out, but I have been missing my hummers. Today, though, I have seen a female and a male! And the female was brave enough to go for the camera feeder. I hope they both return.
The nectar is fresh and the feeders are clean here - spread the word!