Is your hummer feeder up?

The Rufous hummingbirds have completed most of their 6000 kilometre migratory journey from Mexico, were seen early this week in southern Vancouver Island, and should be here on Gabriola very soon - or might be NOW! I read in Monday's Sounder that someone reported Rufous hummers already flitting around the island, and I must admit I thought I saw one in our Japanese cherry tree last Saturday BUT I didn't have my binos with me and didn't get a good enough look to know FOR SURE that it wasn't an Anna's - which are here year round. So I contacted the 'senior' birders ar Birding in BC for info. Those who responded said there have been no confirmed reports of Rufous in the mid-island-Nanaimo area yet. If you think you've seen a RUFOUS hummer on the island already (look for the rufous-coloured sides on both male and female) please leave a note in the Comments section below. 

Rufous hummingbird at our feeder last year

In any case, it's definitely time to put out your feeders. One part white sugar (not honey or organic sugar or any other 'healthier' alternative) to 3 1/2 to 4 parts water should do it. Please do not colour the water! The red dye isn't good for the hummingbirds and is unnecessary, since they are attracted by the red of the feeder itself. And please be sure to refill and clean your feeders every week or so - and more often once it warms up.

Feeders help hummers
Once in a while someone asks me if it isn't 'better' to just let hummingbirds get their food naturally, from native plants. (This same question applies, of course, to all birds, and is a philosophical/ecological question I will set aside for today but may take up at another time.)

For me, the answer is "No, it isn't better for them." In an undeveloped, pristine, edenic world, the hummers would, I'm sure, not need artificial feeders to help them refuel after their 6ooo kilometre trip from Central America, but that's not the world we/they live in. Providing nectar is the LEAST we can do, given all the plundering and deforestation and pollution and other acts of violence against the earth we, as a species, have already committed - and continue to commit. This just makes their migratory journeys more and more challenging. 

The value of human-supplied nectar lies not only in its ready availability but also in its 'efficiency' for the hummers. In a 2011 study (Dartmouth University) researchers confirmed that hummingbirds (unlike humans!) feed according to "Optimal Foraging Theory". Basically, this means that their intent is to balance the energy spent finding food with its caloric benefit in order to maximize their chances of survival. (In human terms, they wouldn't bother eating donuts because the nutritive value isn't worth the time and energy spent to ingest then digest them.) Since the flowers that hummers eat from produce just enough nectar to allow them to be pollinated, hummers need to expend energy flying from flower to flower in order to find sufficient nectar. Given their high metabolism and energy requirements, there is a point at which a cost-benefit analysis says 'this just ain't worth it'. That's why, according to the Dartmouth study, hummingbirds aim to choose the largest flower patches with the 'sweetest' nectar concentrations. (To read the summary of the study from the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, go to  http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/11s_final-34-36.pdf) This is why I continue to advocate for feeders.

Just make sure you don't wear red in the vicinity!

Fun coming up!
Soon we'll be sitting on the deck watching the territorial squabbling of the hummers as they stake out their places at the feeders. Luckily, they are rarely damaged in their 'battles' since their instincts tell them to protect those long life-giving bills. And once they settle in, we might get to watch those amazing courtship displays. I hope ...

Enjoy!

Yes we have an Anna's ...

If you are seeing a hummingbird in your yard these days, it is almost certainly an Anna's. (The rufous have left for the warmer climes of Central America, along with large numbers of Gabriolans.)



Male Anna's humminbird. Photo by Lee Karney*

Someone asked me yesterday how to tell the difference between our common rufous hummers (which arrive in March to breed and stay for the summer) and an Anna's. Other than the sure-fire solution - if it's here now it's an Anna's! - you can tell by its colouring. The male Anna's has an iridescent rose red bib covering its head and throat, and an emerald green back. There is no rufous (brownish) colouring anywhere. The female Anna's has a small rose red throat patch only and a green head. Again, no rufous colouring anywhere. Both have a partial white eye ring. The Anna's female now visiting the fuschia in our backyard (and our feeder, from time to time) seems a little longer (taller?) than the rufous hummers we're used to seeing.

A Tail with a Song
The male Anna's "sings" complex songs, especially during mating season. During it's courtship diving display (who could resist?) it "sings" a special tune with it's TAIL. Read all about it here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/Page.aspx?pid=1011

Are you feeding Anna's this winter?
Feeding the Anna's in winter is a more serious responsibility than feeding the rufous in the spring and summer when natural food sources are plentiful. When the temperature falls close to freezing, be sure to bring your feeder in after dark (so that it doesn't freeze then crack, and to warm up the nectar a little) and put it back out early in the morning for the Anna's to breakfast on. (Anna's also feed on small insects and spiders when they're available.) And be sure to keep your feeder clean - as always.

*Photo courtesy US Fish & Wildlife Service. Thank you.
 

It's summer and the birding is easy ...

It's the second day of summer and the yard is full of juveniles and quite a few visitors. It appears that, as of this morning, all the violet-green swallow fledglings have left the nest box under our garden shed in the back yard. I don't know this for sure, of course, since this is not the nest with the nest cam in it. (Wouldn't you know?) That nest, in our front yard, was abandoned early on, half built. It had nests in it for the last two years but this year the parents built half a nest and left. I'm guessing it had to do with all the European starlings that were hanging around at that point, taking advantage of the suet. With their innate good sense, the swallows probably didn't want to risk nest predation. I mean, really, if you had a choice, would you painstaingly build a lovely wooden home next to a known arsonist? No disrespect to starlings intended - I know they're just being starlings. And I was actually pleased that they nested nearby and I got to watch the mother feed the babies our suet.


Juvenile European starling


Last evening and this morning a MacGillvary's warbler was snacking on the red hot poker in the front yard. This is the first of this species I've seen in our yard.

I didn't realize this rufous hummer was so young until I saw the photo!

 

Several people have mentioned (complained, really) that hummers are no longer flocking to their feeders like they were in the spring. Yes, April is wonderful - the feeders were buzzing like crazy ...

... but most of these guys were migrating from Central America, just passing through Gabriola, which is (delightfully) on the Pacific Flyway. So no, don't fret. Don't up the sugar content. Don't take it personally - it's as it's meant to be. As usual.

Here's a juvenile sparrow (song, I think) in the yard this morning. I wonder if it liked the "security" of the wire fencing? 

Remember, if you're hoping a pair of American goldfinches will nest nearby, be sure to leave some thistle in your garden because they use the down to line their nests. Since thistle doesn't bloom until late July or early August - and it's quite beautiful when it does - that's when the American golfinches begin breeding.


Male American goldfinch 


I'd love to know ... what are you seeing in your Gabriola yard and garden these days?