They are well known for their territorial behavior ; the male makes elaborate dive displays at other birds and sometimes even at people. At the bottom of their dives, they produce high-pitched loud popping sounds with their tail feathers. Males have glossy dark rose-red throats and crowns, which may appear black or dark purple in low light. The underside is mostly greyish; and the back metallic green.
Females have light grey chests with white and red spotting on the throat, greenish back and white tipped tails.
They resemble the Costa's Hummingbirds , but the male's Costa's Hummingbird 's gorget throat feathers is longer than that of the Anna's. They are larger than the Rufous Hummingbirds and lack the rusty coloration of the Rufous Hummingbirds.
Black-chinned Hummingbirds Archilochus alexandri. The male has a black, shimmering throat with a purple edge and pale feathers below that create a collar. This male's back and crown are green, and there are some green feathers covering the chest. The female is pale below sometimes with a slightly speckled throat and her plumage is greenish above.
Blue-throated Hummingbirds Lampornis clemenciae. The upper plumage is dull green, fading to a medium grey on the underside. It has white stripes behind the eyes and a narrower stripe extending backward from the corner of its relatively short bill, next to a blackish cheek patch. The male can be identified by the iridescent blue throat patch gorget , which may appear black or grey color in poor light. The male is glossy green above and on the chest.
He has a deep blue throat. His straight and slender beak is red with a black tip. His slightly forked tail is dark above, and the under tail feathers are white. The female is less colorful than the male. Her throat, chest and belly are light to medium grey. She has a white stripe over each eye.
Broad-tailed Hummingbirds Selasphorus platycercus - Migratory hummingbirds breed across mountain forests and meadows throughout the Western United States from eastern California and northern Wyoming south through Great Basin and Mountain states to southern Arizona and western Texas. Move south to winter in Mexico, Guatemala and, occasionally, El Salvador. Males can most easily be identified by their iridescent, rose-red throats, white chest feathers and metallic green back and crown and their rounded tails.
The males' tails make whistling noises in flight. Females lack the flashy throat patch of the male and are mostly pale below. Their white-tipped outer tail feathers are rust-colored close to the body and blackish in the center; the tail feathers in the center range from green to blackish. Since many of your garden flowers that attract hummingbirds may not yet be blooming, your feeders can be the "first port in the storm" after miles and miles of flight.
The hummingbirds will be ravenous and looking for a reliable source of energy. Having feeders set up in advance of the birds' arrival will increase the odds that the feeders are found. Make sure your feeders are clean and free of broken or rusted pieces. Wash them with a vinegar and water solution or, if absolutely necessary, use a mild dish detergent and hot water. Bleach is not recommended as a cleaning agent. A bottle brush works great when scouring the inside of the container and a small brush, such as a toothbrush, helps when cleaning out the base and the flower feeders.
Thoroughly rinse the feeders with hot water after cleaning especially important if you used dish detergent. If your feeder contains black mold that simply won't wash away, your safest option is to toss the feeder and buy a new one.
Once dry, fill your feeder with freshly made nectar , hang outside, and await your guests. Going forward, replace the nectar in your feeders every few days and thoroughly rinse the bottle each time. This is important. If you don't keep your feeder clean and filled with fresh food, the hummingbirds will not visit them. He sat the cage on a little table and reached in and grasped the little hummer. He immediately went to examining the bird. He said we had a 6 month old Rufus hummingbird that had migrated from the northwest, probably from Alaska, Oregon or Washington.
It's amazing that this bird had flown over miles and ending up in my yard in Calera, Alabama. Bob banded the hummer and logged all info, weight, size, etc My wife who was so excited got to hold the hummer and release him back to the skies. He did return and stayed with us thru December 16th. Then he was just gone.
My wife named him Christmas and said Christmas had come early. We were sad when he left but we hoped he flew into another person's life and made their day. I urge everyone to keep a feeder or 2 out because you never know. You may be blessed with that winter hummer.
We haven't had another since that time but I keep hoping and praying for another winter bird. Its so exciting. We are patiently awaiting our spring arrivals that usually show up the last week in March. We cant wait. Donnie Green. There are a small number of Ruby-throated hummingbirds that have always wintered in some of our southern states such as Georgia and Florida.
These Ruby-throated hummingbirds require us to heat the nectar or bring the feeder indoors and then out again but only in the event of a cold snap. In this case, we should never take our feeders down. Thank goodness, this myth is not true. I remember the first I heard this and nearly panicked! A Myth is a myth! Scientists have studied the hummingbird in regard to migration.
They have banded many hummingbirds and tracked their marvelous migrations. As a result, we now know scientifically that hummingbirds do not migrate because of a lack of nectar or we stop feeding hummingbirds.
It is the length of daylight in autumn and spring that triggers the hormones that cause hummingbirds to migrate. When the hormones surge, the birds become restless. In addition, they start to become nocturnal because hummingbirds migrate at night. Finally, when the length of day shortens even more the hormonal surge becomes greater and our dear hummingbird friends leave us.
A Myth Based on Fact!
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