Baby Hummies are flying
I have three families of black-chinned hummingbirds using my two feeders. This year's chicks are really sucking down the chow and play fighting. They're amazing to watch and I love them dearly. But seeing the chicks means that their departure for the year is only about two weeks away. They always leave right after the August full moon. The males will hang around a bit longer, and I'll see migrators passing through until mid September if I'm lucky.
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Pics? I know they are hard to get on camera. But baby hummingbirds would be worth the try. 😁
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I envy you Rocky. To have sociable hummers must be a treat. Here in Michigan we only have the Ruby Throated variety and they are about as cantankerous as a bird can be. Never, I repeat, never do we have more than one at a time sitting on one of our feeders. If another approaches, all hell breaks loose. I have never seen them actually make contact, but the diving, circling, and flying in aggressive spirals resembles an aerial dogfight. I almost expect to see tracer fire or a missile launch! They will only be here for a few more weeks before the long migration to Mexico and central America. Our Baltimore Orioles have already deserted us for this year on their trip south, leaving those feeders to the finches and occasional Grosbeak.
On the positive side, the fawns and baby turkeys are super abundant this year. They are always fun to watch and stick around all year. One of the mamma whitetails has triplets, and 3 hens just took their 18 youngins through the yard 15 minutes ago. Bob
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We have the ruby throated humming birds here in west central Illinois. We have the two window mounted feeders on the bay window and one hanging feeder on the back porch. We are going through about six cups of food a day. You can hold the feeder in your hand after you fill it and they will eat from it if your steady and not moving. Usually after September 20th their pretty much headed back south, any after that date I believe are stopping to grab a quick bit to eat while heading back. I only learned this year that they can’t walk, there light landing gear is for holding on and that’s about it. Over the years I have tried to find a nest to see what the baby’s look like, but never been lucky enough to find one.
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waltermoe: 30436991610011/comments/30437022026651
We have the ruby throated humming birds here in west central Illinois. We have the two window mounted feeders on the bay window and one hanging feeder on the back porch. We are going through about six cups of food a day. You can hold the feeder in your hand after you fill it and they will eat from it if your steady and not moving. Usually after September 20th their pretty much headed back south, any after that date I believe are stopping to grab a quick bit to eat while heading back. I only learned this year that they can’t walk, there light landing gear is for holding on and that’s about it. Over the years I have tried to find a nest to see what the baby’s look like, but never been lucky enough to find one.
We've found a few nests over the years, most have been in a large trumpet vine that is next to our driveway. That thing grows so fast that it needs major trimming a couple of time each summer and I have to be careful and check for nests each time. The nests are about the size of my fist and high enough that I can't see in them but when I notice one I look for the adults traveling back and forth to feed the chicks. I figure they pick that location because of both the protection of the thick vegetation and the flowers are a good food source. Nature is a never-ending source of entertainment around our place. Bob
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Bob, black-chins are just as aggressive and territorial. That how I know when the babies are flying every year: if there are two on a feeder at once, they are family, likely siblings. The young are practically indistinguishable from the parents, except for being uniformly drab and thinner. Even the adult females have more body markings.
As they depart, I'll see a few Rufous birds migrating, and they are even more aggressive. Ditto the occasional broad-tailed hummer.
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The Chemical and Thermodynamic efficiency of these tiny migratory birds is (as yet) unmatched by any man-made system of similar small scale... their strength-to-weight ratio and navigational skills are likewise mind-blowing. Flap on tiny hummers!
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Yup. I call them "humbling birds" because everything they do humbles me.
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