More of the Costa's Hummingbirds and One Other
And a Broad-billed Hummingbird defends his perch
At the end of January I saw a Costa's Hummingbird perched. It didn't seem eager to fly in the cold. It just sat there, all puffed out just trying to stay warm. Was this the same one I saw actively protecting "his" feeders two months later?
On March 8, just about two weeks ago at around 9 in the morning, I watched this Costa's on one cholla perch. It was another overcast day so there were opportunities to see its gorget feathers lighting up in the filtered sunlight. The last hummingbird email mentioned that this hummingbird weighed about as much as a penny and I asked you to hold a penny in your hand while you looked at the photographs. One friend let me know she didn't have any pennies in her house. In that case, she (and you) could put any of the following items in your palm while reading this to simulate the weight of this little hummingbird: two paper clips, or half of a sheet of copy paper, or two jelly beans, or three raisins, or a dry tea bag, and so on. The hummingbird doesn't weigh very much, does it?
The Costa's was going through a series of stretches while grooming itself. Here it has both wings stretched back as far as it could stretch and is hunched over. Facing me in perfect light, its entire gorget shows color.
The bird finished stretching and it relaxed.
Then it began scratching its neck.
Followed by what I call "sharpening its sword". More likely it was just cleaning its beak.
And then it rested and looked at me once more.
The Costa's Hummingbird turned one final time and just glowed!
Later that afternoon, I saw a male Broad-billed Hummingbird perched on a nearby cholla skeleton. He looked ready to fly to the feeders but apparently another hummingbird (which I never saw) wasn't happy with his presence. While I was viewing the Broad-billed through the camera lens, I could tell it was focused on the other hummingbird flying closely overhead.
The aggressive hummingbird must have made a close pass overhead as the Broad-bill was ready to fly off to protect itself.
The Broad-bill never flew, but it looked directly overhead warily. It also appears to be crouching down in a defensive pose, and perhaps ready again to take off. From this angle you can see why the Broad-billed Hummingbird was named. The base of its bill is very broad indeed!
For more on Costa's Hummingbirds, the allaboutbirds site is a great resource:
And for more on Broad-bills, go to this overview.