Today was a bit of a rainy day here, unusual due to the drought but welcome. This put me off from doing a significant bird outing.
However, there have been several recent reports of migrating Calliope Hummingbirds in the area. The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest bird in North America. That combined with the fact it is a hummingbird makes it one of my more favored birds. It is also the only remaining hummingbird that is typically found in our area that I have yet to see this year. Thus, I would REALLY like to see one!
Unfortunately in our area they also tend to be hard to come by. They pass through during migration and generally do not stick around for long. So I was excited to see reports from last evening and this morning at a location about 2 miles from my house.
When the rain let up this afternoon I got on the bike and headed over to the row of bottlebrush trees where these little birds had been seen. I arrived to find Peter Gaede already searching the treetops (great minds think alike), which were indeed buzzing with numerous hummingbirds. These were mostly Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds, with a few Anna's and one male Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Alas, after searching the treetops for about 45 minutes we were unable to find any Calliope Hummingbirds. The birds tended to stay high in the trees. With the sun fairly high in the sky this made for a difficult viewing situation. Plus the little Calliopes are easily bullied by the larger Hummingbirds and tend to be a bit skittish in a crowded situation such as this.
It is still somewhat early in the migration period so hopefully I will catch up with one soon.
I include a previous photo below to illustrate what these little fellows look like:
After today the year's total still stands at 204.
However, there have been several recent reports of migrating Calliope Hummingbirds in the area. The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest bird in North America. That combined with the fact it is a hummingbird makes it one of my more favored birds. It is also the only remaining hummingbird that is typically found in our area that I have yet to see this year. Thus, I would REALLY like to see one!
Unfortunately in our area they also tend to be hard to come by. They pass through during migration and generally do not stick around for long. So I was excited to see reports from last evening and this morning at a location about 2 miles from my house.
When the rain let up this afternoon I got on the bike and headed over to the row of bottlebrush trees where these little birds had been seen. I arrived to find Peter Gaede already searching the treetops (great minds think alike), which were indeed buzzing with numerous hummingbirds. These were mostly Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds, with a few Anna's and one male Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Alas, after searching the treetops for about 45 minutes we were unable to find any Calliope Hummingbirds. The birds tended to stay high in the trees. With the sun fairly high in the sky this made for a difficult viewing situation. Plus the little Calliopes are easily bullied by the larger Hummingbirds and tend to be a bit skittish in a crowded situation such as this.
It is still somewhat early in the migration period so hopefully I will catch up with one soon.
I include a previous photo below to illustrate what these little fellows look like:
Calliope Hummingbird (Male, Utah 2014)
After today the year's total still stands at 204.
Today I rode a total of 4.1 miles
More later,
Glenn
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