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Hummingbird News

Welcome to the news site for ClassyShots resident hummingbirds. We will use this page to keep those interested updated on the flock around the studio and also throw in a little news of hummingbirds we run into on the road.

Start the party. The kids are all here.	By mike - 3/26/2008 11:47
I just wandered out to fill my coffee cup and the first female Calliope of the year was sitting on the feeder just sucking it up! Now if one of the males will make a showing. I had just one last year and never did get a photo of him.

First Rufous Female

By mike - 3/16/2008 11:29

With the first Rufous male showing up about a week ago I figured it wouldn't be long until one of the girls came knocking. I thought I saw one buzz in and check out the front feeder two days ago but she never stopped to eat. Yesterday she was back. It took her a little while to get comfortable enough to sit down to eat but she did. They are so small compared to those chubby Anna's that eat so well here all year.

First of the season!!	By mike - 3/11/2008 11:18
Just had my first of the Mexican Tourists show up. My first Male Rufous Hummingbird of the year zipped in to check out the feeders. Nature Rules!!

Head count for the winter

By MikeV - 11/9/2007 9:14

I realized that I hadn't posted anything on here in a heck of a long time. It's not from lack of activity. Western Oregon is on of those lucky places that has hummers all year long in some areas. Here in the Willamette Valley we have Annas' that winter over. I have been feeding them for three winters now. It started with one and this year the head count is up to five. They share three feeders to keep the fighting down and to make sure all of them can get food at that critical first feeding in the mornings. The current count of five consists of a mature male and female, two young males with one older than the other and one young female. They are really a kick to have around all year.

General update

By mikev - 7/12/2007 10:34

Pretty much normal activity for early summer around the house. I spent 4th of July week up in the Oregon Cascades working on a photo project on the Roaring River. After I got pulled into the "camp spot" and got the motorhome level I set out the feeder. Within 30 minutes I had two male and one female Rufous in camp and feeding. After a short time a female Calliope also showed up. I keep seeing where the hummer population in Oregon is falling off but I'm wondering it that is really the case. Maybe they are tired of all the bad air in town and moving into the more wild areas. I know I see more of them all the time in the woods.

New sighting at the feeder.	By mikev - 4/28/2007 14:13
I was happy to greet a new arrival at one of the feeders yesterday evening. The first male Calliope showed up and was still here this morning hitting the feeder. They sure stand out when you are used to looking at Rufous and Anna's.

Goings on...

By MikeV - 4/25/2007 7:48

It is pretty normal for spring at the feeders other than I don't think I have seen as many Rufous as normal. With them mating and nesting it is kind of hard to tell. I do know that my resident Anna's are still here but I have to be up pretty early to catch them at the feeders. They are hitting early morning and late evening. The rest of the day they are out and about. As far as Rufous I know for sure of one male and one female. I think the male is a yearling. He has great color and markings but not as dark or filled in as many of the males I've seen. So far I've seen one lone Calliope female. Not to say there aren't more of them around. Have fun watching your birds and remember as the weather warms to freshen up the feeders a little more often.

First Spring Arrivals

By mike - 3/16/2007 21:1

We had the first of the summer visitors this evening. One female Rufous showed up at the feeder on the front side of the house early evening. She zipped in, parked her little rear on a perch and went to eating. There was no doubt even at first glance that it wasn't one of my local Anna's. She was much smaller and the colors just jump out after looking at the 3 Anna's all winter long. I guess the feeder wars will be on soon.

Quick update

By mike - 2/24/2007 17:10

The two missing birds have been accounted for. Mother is doing fine and the two boys from last year are looking more like adult males every week. About the only way I can tell them apart anymore is when Scruffy (the younger one) decides it is time to sing. Most often this is is early morning at first feeding. I hit the hottub first thing in the morning and it is about the same time he comes in to feed. He sits on a branch under the feeder about three feet from me and goes into his singing thing. Now this isn't just a chirp or two. He tries to sing like the damn starlings and while he way off key he does a pretty good imitation. One of these days I'll have the mic planted out there and get a recording of it.

Tough little birds.

By admin - 1/16/2007 11:17

Many of you know I have Anna's Hummingbirds that winter over and I take very good care of them. I am starting to worry. The last day and a half I have only seen one of the three. Scruffy has been here but I haven't see his mother or older brother. We have been having low temps at night around 20º and it is pretty hard on them even with me keeping their feeders heated It started snowing again this morning just after feeding time and Scruffy doesn't get far from his feeder in the morning. He was sitting on a branch under his feeder and didn't care about the snow on the branch or himself. After he got his morning fill from that feeder he moved down to the big feeder and camped out under his heat lamp. A couple photos of him are on my photo blog at http://www.classyshots.com/blogger/index.php Enjoy and I'll be watching for the two missing family members.

Four for the winter.

By mike - 10/23/2006 21:36

November is almost here and things are pretty quiet. The big rush of birds headed South for the winter is over. For those of you living in the South West it is a good thing. You get the majority of the birds back. For a lucky few of us in the North West it means fewer feeders to keep clean but there are still a couple of then hanging. Here in the Willamette Valley we are lucky enough to have Anna's that winter over. Last year I had three of them. One male and two females. This year it looks like I will be feeding four of them. I have one female, one adult male and two younger males. From the youngsters coloring I'm guessing one from the first brood and one from the second. With three males in the bunch it can get pretty loud and interesting at times. The youngest of the bunch has been taking singing lessons from the finches.. or at least trying to. He sits on his branch below "his" feeder and sings up a storm. Not like the normal chirp noises but he really tries to sing. I'll run a mic out there one of these days and record it and put it up on the site. Please remember... if your birds are gone don't forget to take down and clean your feeders.

It's a zoo!

By mike - 7/31/2006 18:6

June was about the slowest month I have seen around here for birds in the last couple of years. That has all changed this last month. All of the youngsters are out and feeding along with the females. The Rufous are trying to be the tough guys and take over all the feeders but the Anna's have called their bluff. Those girls aren't backing down a bit! It looks like a real good survival rate on the young ones this year. From the color that is starting to show on some of them I think it is about equal between males and females. Time will tell on that one. The Rufous will be leaving in five weeks or so. I had Anna's that wintered over last year. It will be interesting to see how many of the new kids stick around.

Youngsters

By mike - 7/16/2006 9:4

While I'm not as lucky as some and haven't found nests, my hummingbirds have been doing the nasty and the "children" are now showing up at the feeders. This last week has been a real zoo. Besides my resident pair of mating Anna's the kids have been hitting the feeders hard. There are also a number of young Rufous showing up. Needless to say having both kinds of them here at the same time can make things a real war zone when it comes to which "flower" belongs to which bird.

Update:

By MikeV - 6/26/2006 10:29

Pretty slow covers it in just two words. I've had no where near the number of Rufous this year that I've had in the past. No idea why. I have heard others say they are flooded with them. Same feeders in the same places for me so nothing has really changed other than the birds not being here. On the Anna's front things are pretty normal. I have my one male / female pair that showed up last winter and a few others around. I'm guessing they will be here all winter again as they never left. It will just break my heart to have to keep a feeder out and be able to talk to them all year ;-)

The Rufous are here!!

By mike - 3/30/2006 19:36

It seemed like it was never going to happen. I was sitting in the office and heard hummer wing beats outside the window but they didn't sound right. After listening to Anna's all winter I have them down and these just weren't right. Out of the chair, open the door to take a look and there was a male Rufous checking out the feeders. It didn't take him long to park on a perch and go for the food. There are a few photos in the photos section of the site.

A pair again...	By mike - 3/18/2006 18:1
Things had been pretty quiet for about a week. A couple of days ago one of the Anna's females showed back up and has been eating like there is no tomorrow. Yesterday one of the Anna's males also showed up. He has also been hitting the feeder pretty hard. It's nice to have them back at it. Still no sign of my first Rufous for the year.

Not much to report:

By mike - 3/9/2006 8:0

Anna's activity has been pretty quiet. Actually quiet to the point that I haven't seen one of them in three days. Some of the trees have gone into full bloom and the flowering quince is also blooming. I have a feeling the birds are eating from "real" flowers for a change. There have been first sightings of the beginning of the Rufous migration in places over on the Oregon Coast but as of yet I haven't seen one at my feeders. It should be any day now.

Update	By mike - 2/9/2006 11:45
Things are going along pretty normal. The female Anna's are in and out of the feeders and am expecting to see young ones soon. The males had pretty much moved out but today I did have a mature male at the feeder in the front of the house. It's well out of the way of the ones in back that the females use most of the time.

And the good news is...	By admin - 1/7/2006 15:6
The males are still around. I was pretty sure I had been hearing them but had not seen any of the three of them at the feeders. One of them made a quick dash in for lunch while the females weren't around. The traffic from the two females is down to a couple of feedings a day. I'm sure they are sitting on nests. We will have the first batch of little ones soon.

Rough Week

By classyshots - 12/31/2005 7:43

It has been a rough week for the "girls". The weather changed from cold to very wet and they don't seem to like the rain any more than I do. We also had a couple of close calls and almost thought we were going to have to call the EMT's out on the second one. I have a feeder at each end of the breezeway between the house and the studio. Stepping out into it can be interesting at times as the birds tend to use it as a flyway to get from one feeder. They don't seem to mind that it is only eight feet wide and covered. To them it is just a shortcut between their "flowers". Tuesday morning while passing through one of them decided to try and fly up to get out. She could see sky through the clear panels. She kept fighting it and banging her head trying to get out. I ended up going out and climbing up on hot tub cover so I could reach where she was. I cupped my hand and put it behind her and gently guided her through each section of the panels for about ten feet until I got her to the end and she made it out with no physical damage that I could see. On Thursday two of the girls got into a fight over the single port feeder. One at the feeder and the other came in at a high rate of speed to run her off. Well it worked. She took off from the feeder and ran square into the kitchen window. It knocked her out colder than Hillary Clinton and she ended up face down and wings out on the concrete five feet below the window. I walked over to see if she was still alive. I got within a couple feet of her and she kind of stood up, shook her head and flew straight up and landed on the phone line. She sat there a few seconds and then off she went. No EMT's were needed.

The Missing Males

By mike - 12/24/2005 8:25

While I seem to have picked up an extra female at the feeders bringing the count to three, the two males have gone into hiding. I haven't seen either one of them the last two days. One of the females has great markings and I'd really love to get some photos of her but.... she does not like the camera. If she sees it at a feeder she goes to the other one to eat. I went so far as to take one feeder down and set it in a corner on the deck. It didn't bother her a bit. She found it and ate at ground level. I'll get her yet.

Baby it's cold out there!	By admin - 12/18/2005 13:51
25º when I got up at 6:00 but the birds were here right on time at 7:20 for breakfast. The mid-day freezing rain moved them back into the redwood tree to stay dry but they are back to eating now that is has slowed down. Still feeding four of them.

Update to previous post...	By mike - 12/15/2005 18:14
The local population here at the house is up to four with the addition of another Anna's male showing up today. I guess the first one is going to have to share one of his girls now. The main feeder is now warmed by a heat lamp to keep it from freezing. It's not pretty but I had all the parts laying around to build it other than two clamps used in mounting. They came to all of $.18.

Another Day, Another Video	By mike - 12/15/2005 16:27
Added one more clip of the male Anna's to the video page. It's still cold, high 20's at night and not much over freezing daytime. The kids are hanging in there and the heat lamp is burning above the feeder.

Photos and Video	By mike - 12/13/2005 8:27
While I had been shooting a few photos of the birds I went for something different today and got out the camcorder. There are now a couple of video clips on the video page.

Buzzing The Hand That Feeds You	By mike - 12/12/2005 8:25
The "girls" have learned a new short cut between the feeders. They have taken to flying through the breeze way between the house and the studio. It can really get your attention if you are standing there when they come screaming through. the space is only about eight feet wide.

Get Out Of My Air Space	By mike - 12/10/2005 8:22
I was up on the roof today putting up the Christmas lights and was buzzed a number of times by the male. He will let me get within two feet of him with the camera but I don't think I'm allowed to be flying around in his space.

It's A Boy!!!!	By mike - 12/08/2005 8:19
The count is now up to three with the arrival of an Anna's Male today. The girls fight over the feeders and he sits on the hedge and watches. When they chase each other off, he comes in to feed. He's no dummy. Never get between women and food.

Weather Getting Cold	By mike - 12/04/2005 8:17
I have had to start bringing in the feeders at night to keep them from freezing. Lows have been around 29 F. I take the feeders down after dark and put them back up well before daybreak.

A Second Female	By mike - 12/02/2005 8:15
"Miss November" has a friend! A second female Anna's showed up today. She is not anywhere near as tame as the first. I can walk to within a few feet of the first one and talk to her while she is feeding. If I move anywhere near the second one she is gone like a flash.

Feeder Change	By mike - 11/29/2005 8:12
I moved the single port feeder to the other end of the deck and replaced it with one with perchs on it today. I see no reason for "Miss November" as she has been named to have to work so hard for food. She seems to be very happy with sit down meals.

The Rumor Is True!!	By mike - 11/28/2005 8:10
A female Anna's showed up at the feeder today! It looks like the wintering range for them has expanded to The Valley from the Oregon Coast. This does not hurt my feelings at all.

Hummingbirds Spotted	By mike - 11/21/2005 8:3
Wife was talking to a neighbor and was told that she had seen a couple of hummingbirds flying around in her yard. I got the single port feeder out and hung it back up just in case.

First post: End of 2005 season.	By mike - 09/23/2005 8:2
It looks like the birds have headed off to Mexico. the last female Rufous seen at a feeder was on Sept. 2nd. I waited three weeks to make sure she was the last one. Time to take down the feeder.