So my birding buddy who’s a botany professor lives on his household’s seven hectares (17 acres), a mere ten minutes’ drive from my home. It’s a beautiful piece of property, with a waterway operating east-west down the center. The south-facing slope was as soon as used to develop corn and graze cattle, however now sports activities three ecological properties, and is starting a means of reforestation. The north-facing slope has many giant pine and cypress timber, with a pleasant understory together with oaks, shrubs and, proper now, even some beautiful floor orchids. However probably the most uncommon part is the waterway. You’ll swear it was a meadow, till a pair of Mexican Geese or a Inexperienced Heron come flying out of it. Essentially the most uncommon species right here owes its presence on to this marshy meadow, as that’s the favourite habitat for the Grass Wren, a species that was lately break up from the Sedge Wren. (And is intently associated to the way more frequent Marsh Wren.) I’ve by no means seen this fowl wherever else. However right here, each jiffy one hears its relatively unmusical track, and sees it perched on a reed or thistle someplace.
Yearly I need to go to my buddy’s property, so as to add these Grass Wrens to my 12 months checklist. However this time, I went with two different buddies, as a result of my buddy who lives there had informed us concerning the sudden arrival of a number of migratory hummingbird species. And oh boy, had they ever arrived. Which species did we see? Resident Broad-billed, Berylline, and White-eared Hummingbirds, and migratory Rufous, Broad-tailed, Black-chinned, Ruby-throated and Calliope Hummingbirds. There could even have been a resident Rivoli’s Hummingbird or Blue-throated Mountain-Gem, however we weren’t positive of that sighting. Eight hummers or 9 hummer species, it’s all good.
Broad-billed Hummingbird, male
White-eared Hummingbird, male
Rufous Hummingbird, male
Black-chinned Hummingbird, male
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, feminine
Immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
And a Hummingbird Moth, for good measure
It’s all the time thrilling to see migratory species after they first arrive for the winter. However I’m conscious that I’ll proceed to see most of those hummers all through the winter. The Calliope Hummingbirds, nonetheless had been a lot, way more quite a few and lively than I anticipate to see once more this winter. They gave the impression to be in every single place, having fun with the superb amount of flowers within the marshy space. Most fun, was that I lastly obtained to get good views of male Calliopes. The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest of all hummers within the U.S. and Canada (which eBird calls “North Americal”, though all good geographers know that Mexico can be a part of North America.) However that tiny measurement doesn’t assist a lot with figuring out the females, forcing one to pay beautiful consideration to wing size, because the Calliope is our solely hummer whose wings prolong previous its tail when perched. Males, nonetheless, are unmistakeable, and really placing:
male
feminine
At this level, I want to maneuver past our time at my buddy’s property. These are seven improbable hectares. However they’re nonetheless solely seven, and after 4 hours, we determined to maneuver to a close-by reservoir to see how its post-drought restoration is progressing. And what did we discover there? One other male Calliope Hummingbird! However this one needed to feed on a a lot smaller thistle patch, which pressured it to just accept photograph periods at a a lot shorter distance. Since I had NEVER earlier than managed pictures of a male Calliope, I’m over the moon about these pictures!
For probably the most half, these hummingbirds had been the day’s revelation. However the above-mentioned Inexperienced Heron turned wanting so comical, that I don’t wish to threat sharing at the least one photograph of it earlier than I end right here.
