3/7/00 phainopepla at yahoo.com (Michael Dossett) writes:

>
> I can only remember hearing Anna's make a really loud
> high pitched chirp, but nothing I would describe as a
> buzz. This is interesting. Don't get me wrong, I am
> not questioning your description, I just find it
> intriguing. I guess the noise I have been hearing has
> always been just as I have walked onto the male's
> territory, and I have always gotten the distinct
> impression that he was buzzing me. Perhaps this is a
> display that male's use in defense of the territory
> and the one you describe is something which is more
> related to attracting a mate.
>
> Bird behaviour is very intriguing. Sometimes I wish I
> could here what is going on inside their heads!
>

Michael and others who commented -- No, it's not a 'buzz'. The only dull
buzzy sounds I hear are only when they are just flying around normally. The
'sziiiSP' sound I tried to describe is more like that when you yank really
hard on a zipper, one of those plastic ones to be exact. (A metal zipper
might be interpreted as with a slightly more metallic or buzzy quality). The
sound comes I think from the rush of wind over the wings when the male is
making one of those 'speed of light' plummeting dives with the my perception
of a 'snap' at the end (like a flycatcher bill snap) when at the bottom of
the dive, the bird pulls out or brakes or whatever it does. It all happens
so fast and it's all over in a split second that I find it actually hard to
follow exactly. This would be a good one to see and study on video in slow
motion. Anyway, it's very interesting and I'm actually quite surprised that
I've never noticed or been aware of this behavior in Anna's before ...which
is probably so common, typical, well studied, and old hat to everyone else on
the planet but ol' tardy slow me :-))

As for 'chirps' and little short 'tick' noises, they emit these constantly,
especially cranking up when I've just stepped outside and am near the
feeders. They do this when perched safely from in and under the cover of the
shrubs as well as when hovering about waiting or checking me out. Anyway, it
all just goes on and on all day long from the crack of dawn to last light in
the evening. So we're pretty conditioned to each other you might say, so
much so in fact that I can be working bent over in the flower bed with my
back not even a foot below one of the feeders and the hummers still manage to
squeeze in to feed. Also, when I'm simply refilling the feeder in the
kitchen, I'll usually see one or two just standing by and then literally
hovering inches from my face as I'm putting it back in place. Then, they are
back on the feeder before I can hardly even step away. Such impatient little
beasts they are.

So as you can tell, we seem to have a pretty good relationship and I'm sure
they are going to be very confused and disappointed when I leave town for a
couple of months on Friday which even distresses me somewhat. But I suppose
we'll all get over it and adjust. It'll be good for them to go off and find
something natural to eat. If I ate as much sugar by ratio of comparative
body size and weight as they do, I'd either be in the hospital or dead :-))

....and now, much later in the evening..... and having hatched out another
idea......

I had to go back through the day by day recent digests on the web to find
this, but back on March 1st, Brock Phillips posted something about
hummingbird houses. What?!? A Hummingbird HOUSE?!!? How absurd and I kind
of just dismissed it with one of those throaty nose laughs. But curiosity
got the better of me today, so I buzzed over to 'Wild Birds Unlimited' (WBU)
in Overlake this afternoon to take a look (but mainly to pick up a couple of
the LARGEST feeders that I could find which should hold out for a 2-4 weeks
after I'm gone and tide my sugar intoxicated flock of Anna's over until the
flowers come out and not spoil or go moldy in the meantime). Very soon also,
there will be the Rufous to contend with too, but I think the Anna's can deal
with the impending invasion.

The hummingbird HOUSE ---- I couldn't fathom an actual HOUSE for a
hummingbird. Fortunately, it's not actually a 'house'. I'm not quite sure
what you'd call it. A stick, a perch, or something. Anyway, it's just a
three-pronged item that you can bolt to the eves or some overhang on the
house or porch or in a tree or shrub I suppose. It's so simple, you could
just make your own. Anyway, you get two such devices in the box along with
a little pack of cottony nest material attached to a red lid like thing which
you hang upside down nearby. Red I suppose to peak the hummers curiosity,
then wah-la, they discover it's not just another feeder but rather it's the
perfect nest material of their dreams. Presto! They fall madly in love at
their good fortune and discovery and go to work building and nesting as per
instructions enclosed in the box assuming of course that they can read,
....and I think my Anna's can actually, to be perfectly honest.

Obviously, someone way down there in New Mexico has apparently had a lot of
time on their hands to tinker around with this contraption. Supposedly it
works, ...at least sometimes and ...well ughm... in New Mexico. At least
around here it would probably have to be set up convincingly somewhere where
the hummers, Anna's or Rufous might be adventurous enough to try it out. I
wasn't totally convinced and decided I had to look over where and how I might
install it first, and just settled on walking out of WBU with the two large
55-gal feeders. Just kidding; ...but they were large.

I kind of got the impression that the folks at WBU aren't totally convinced
either, but they are eager for feedback from those who do take on the
challenge. So this evening, I've decided, what to heck, give it a shot.
I'll go back tomorrow. After all, it'll be an experiment, it's a small
investment, really quite inexpensive actually, simple, and if it works, fine,
if not, no big deal. I've found a good place for it under the porch eves
over the red azaleas and conveniently near one of the feeders. And since
I'll likely be gone for the whole nesting cycle, they can go about their
business without any disturbance at all. The only sign that it worked or not
should be apparent when I get back which will be either an old nest on the
stick or nothing at all.

So, we'll see. Stay tuned. If any of you others out there in 'tweeterland'
tries this novel nesting gizmo out and it works, I think all of us skeptics
around here would like to hear about it. And if it does and you have your
nest house near a window where you can unobtrusively observe it, there are
few greater thrills in nature than actually watching the hatching of a tiny
hummingbird from it's miniature jelly bean sized egg.


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Richard Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
47.??N, 122.??W
(invalid coordinates under reconstruction)
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA, USA

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what
nobody has thought" --Albert Szent-Gyorgi (1893-1986).
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