Subject: Hummingbirds
Date: Jun 27 14:55:31 2000
From: Jacki Bricker - seaotter at eskimo.com
On Tue, 27 Jun 2000, David Chelimer wrote:
> which species are being discussed. I'd really like to know what you're
> getting: Anna's, Rufous, or both. At our feeder here in central Seattle we
> get Anna's almost exclusively. We've seen Rufous only a few times, always
> during spring migration.
>
> Experience with "our" Anna's is that year after year they hang around until
> about the beginning of April, then disappear until roughly mid-May. Then
> they're here through the winter and early spring.
>
> What are the rest of you getting? And when?
Wow, what a difference a few miles make! I have yet to *ever* see an
Anna's humingbird. By that, I mean anywhere; let alone at my feeders. I
would love to see one, so if you're willing to let a bird voyeur peek into
your backyard momentarily, I'd love to see one. It'd be another one for
the life list!
Out here in Woodinville, I get almost exclusively rufous. And a ton of
them, in fact. They usually arrive in mid-May, and stay until mid-August.
I don't keep my feeders up over the winter; it doesn't seem to serve any
purpose where I am.
We have two males that I can clearly identify; I call them "Mephisto" and
"Jupiter." The former is named for his personality type (though perhaps I
should have called him "Machiavelli"). The latter I named because he has
this dark spot, very unusual and obvious, of coloring, just below his
right wing, and over a little onto the breast. It's a patch of dark red on
his south side (south of his "equator," as it were), so--well--it should
be obvious as to why the name. :-]
At any rate, it seems to me that female hummers (many species, at least)
seem so similarly-marked. If I were getting one of a different species at
my feeders, I'd have no idea. I have just been assuming they are female
rufous, as I assume I would have sighted a male of the species by
now.
Now that they've taken a (hopefully temporary!) hiatus, I find myself
missing them a great deal! I keep realizing that I am looking up at the
empty feeders a LOT. I guess I had no idea how often I was looking at the
feeders when the birds were there. I do hope they come back. And I can't
even imagine how cute the babies will be.
-Jacki Bricker
Woodinville, Washington