Living with Hummingbirds

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It is almost October and these are Anna’s hummingbirds and they stay with us all winter.

They were named after Anna Massena, a 19th century French duchess. In summertime we also get Rufous but they leave for better weather sometime in middle of September. Rufous are smaller but much more belligerent . Real fighters.

But hummingbirds are generally described as tough, beautiful and smart.They must consume twice their body weight in insects and nectar on a daily basis just to survive.The fact they can literally starve to death in a few hours helps explain why they defend their food sources so vigorously.They are highly territorial, They fight duels in mid-air and use their bills as daggers.We observed that it’s not playing. It’s for real..
Hummingbirds also have a huge memory. They can remember where every flower in their territory is located and how long it takes to refill with nectar after they have fed.

I am amazed how many hummingbirds stay with us all winter. Sometimes it seems to be clouds of them. Of course my OH feeds them and I am sure that is probably the reason why.

The ability to slip into a type of hibernation on chilly nights helps the Anna’s survive our cold and rainy winters

I have several feeders in the view from my computer chair and love to watch them. They are also getting quite friendly. I do not train them to eat from my hand but when I go out there to water plants or for any other reason they will not fly away on the contrary they will hover over my head as they are checking what I am doing. They have a curious behaviour.

Hummingbirds are very hard to photograph one second they are there and next they are gone.They have unparalleled ability to hover in place and to fly in all directions, even upside down.

Anna’s hummingbird …relative to it’s body size, is regarded as the world’s fastest bird.The male Anna’s reach supersonic speeds when performing a courting ritual …..it climbs up to 40 meters above a watching female and then suddenly plunge sharply downward.

I really should buy a high speed camera.

This is a young female Anna’s as seen from my desk. They have a pale breast.
I use zoom feature on my camera but it does not take the greatest pictures.

Male Anna’s has a dark chin which turns a florescent red when sun shines on it.

Latest video my OH took from my computer chair and I posted on YouTube to show their interaction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2byhdx6GuY

Winter is coming quickly and these little guys are depending on us. They are some flowers around all winter but not enough to feed them all.

• 13 Oct, 2021
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