A Juvenile Costa's Hummingbird Explored My Flowers
This hummingbird was flying from flower to flower
I have a small group of flowering plants in a corner of my back porch. The other morning I watched as a juvenile Costa’s Hummingbird flew from flower to flower dining on the nectar he found. If you look, you can see that he has just a few new purple feathers on his gorget (neck). That tells me he is a juvenile male. The rest of his gorget feathers will continue coming in over the next while.
One estimate states that Costa’s Hummingbirds flap their wings at 50-80 times per second! Costa’s Hummingbirds are small hummingbirds, just over 3” long and weighing 2-3 grams, or about as much as a penny. Small hummingbirds weigh less so their tiny muscles need rapid strokes to give them the lift that they need.
The Costa’s left the large Tecoma flowers and moved over to the small pink flowers. I’m not sure what the plant is, but the flowers are very delicate.
The Costa’s spent a good amount of time with that plant.
He would search for just the right flower. I wonder what it was thinking and how it decided which of those countless flowers was the right one to feed from.
Next it flew to the lavender plant. The Costa’s fed from some flowers, but then also from what looked like other parts of the flower stalk. At this point the Hummingbird wasn’t hovering. It perched on a dry stalk to access the flowers.
Taking a break!
Between the Hummingbird feeders on my porch and the many flowering plants, Hummingbirds have plenty of choices there. Costa’s Hummingbirds are the most numerous species in my yard but I also have regular Broad-billed Hummingbirds. Pretty soon Rufous, Anna’s and some Black-chinned will make their way through the yard as they begin their migration south. You can learn more about Costa’s Hummingbirds at the AllAboutBirds site.