Thursday, February 11, 2010

Dear Anna, Sweet Anna


It is starting to happen! Couldn't get much work done at my desk yesterday. Too much hummingbird activity. And, even as I am typing this -- it is 7:09 am, the hummingbirds are already up and chasing each other around. Right now I see four sitting on branches near the feeder plus two on the feeder. Yesterday, there were a dozen in the same general area. The above photo was taken yesterday. I was "buzzed" more than once trying to take a photo of the hummers that were sitting still. Most of these seem to be Anna's Hummingbirds. They are pretty distinctive because of their long gorgets (beards) and iridescent crowns. The Costa's Hummingbird, also frequently seen here, has an even longer gorget, but purple versus red. The Costa's and Anna's are the only hummers with iridescent crowns. The Rufus, found more at higher elevations and only here in the summer, have orange crowns. Most of the other hummers have crowns of various shades of green or gray. All this to say that the hummers are beginning to pair up for the mating season. We'll see how many nests we find this year.

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