Summer Hummers

Mule Deer Fawn

My landlord put up a large hummingbird feeder in June.  We have been blessed with a multitude of the little jewels.  It's been amazing to watch their acrobatics and behavior.  They might be from different families but they act about the same, taking turns hovering over the feeder, their tails folded tightly back until it's there turn to jinx their way to the platform.  They flare out and diagonally with those tails much like helicopters do.  And the tail is used much more by these little ones than the other passerines.  A few drinks and off they go, buzzing onto the same course each time over the east railing and down into the yard.  If they take too long the bird behind lands on or near the criminal and chirps angrily, sometimes chasing the offender for a few feet before zipping back over for their share.  Colorado Springs is a locus for them in the summer, you can see them in their dozens from Falcon to Skyway and Monument to Fountain. 

An uncomfortable place for a Black Chin

I've seen calliopes, rufous, black chins and the ever present broad tails.  My mother told me that she's seen a few with "green throats" and that she got to hold one after it became entangled in some plant.  I can only hope that these are magnificents but it's tough to say.  Obviously I need to make a trip out there on one of these hot dry days.

Broad Tail Helicopter

 It's easy to understand why we are such a magnet with the colossal Pike National Forest butted up against the southwest and Black Forest to the east.  The forests produce several ways for hummingbirds to feed, from flowers to sapsucker sap wells, and bugs that bubble out drops of sugar along tubes buried deeply inside of trees.  The plains sandwiched between the two make for a nice place for nectar producing flowers, which we have growing wild everywhere throughout town.  A walk through even the desolate seeming Red Rocks Canyon leaves one wondering at how so many and such variety of beautiful flowers ended up in one place. 

Rufous in the rain

I have been watching our birds every morning for at least a few minutes and I've seen that most of them have already started making their ways south for the cold season, the only ones that I've seen for the last few weeks have been the broad tails.  These are fairly standard size hummers with green bodies and wings, white bellies, ruby red throats (in the males) and broad, white tipped tails.  The breadth of the tail can't be exaggerated.  They are also superbly agile because of it.  We have one big male that drove off all the other males of the other species because he was so much better at maneuvering around the deck and the oaks that embrace it.  The black chins were the next biggest, they looked similar but instead of having the flaming gorget they own a much more subdued solid black one.  The rufous were the next biggest, being almost solidly orange with green wings and a bronze gorget.  These are the most striking that I saw this summer.  The smallest are of course the calliopes, being that they are the smallest North American bird.  These guys are beige bellied with less iridescent green back and streaky purple throats.  They were also the rarest, I can count the times I saw one on one hand. 

Rufous Hummingbird

Last week I set up outside for several hours to photograph and observe the resident male broad tail.  And he didn't disappoint.  The back deck is situated so that as you look out east over Colorado Springs proper, there is a mature ponderosa within a hands breadth and several more further out creating a shady retreat at the edge of the yard.  On either end are two old scrub oak trees that are about as tall as the deck.  On the north side of the deck is the feeder.  He perches in the oak on that side with a clear sight on the feeder.  This time of year there are more females who challenge his right to the feeder than males and these he would chase from his perch to the end of the south side of the deck before zipping back to his perch.  His own lady bird he would let feed freely as well as one other female.  I'm not sure if he bred twice or if he just liked this one, or if it was actually a rotation of females that he didn't chase for some reason. 

Resident Broad Tail Male

While I was watching I saw only two other males make for the feeder and these he chased much more intensely and cried out at constantly while he chased.  When he was done chasing them over the property line he would first perch in the pine and call for several minutes, then move to the south oak and call and then return to his normal perch in the north tree.  His call is a digital sounding one note chirp that is louder even then the helicopter beat of his wings.  The call didn't change from when he was chasing to when he was sitting in the trees calling, so I believe these were either contact calls or territorial calls instead of flight calls.

Hummingbird gorget feathers only bounce light directly forward

  I imagine there is a nest somewhere in the backyard.  I will not be searching for it though.  I'm too inexperienced with nests, I usually look for them in the fall after the birds have left.  I would hate to damage the eggs, babies, or nest itself.  The nests are tiny and hard to find by nature as well. 

I refilled the feeder today, only halfway.  It's probably the last time this year that I will be.