Garden

[lucymo]

@Susan Louise  Haha to the Gold finch.  They come here every year and pull off all the petals of our coneflowers.  Good shot of the Squirrel.  We get a lot of Squirrels here in our yard and they like to raid the bird feeders. 

[mousiegirl]

@Susan Louise  If the hummers come at different times instead of all at the same time, how can you tell they are not the same birds returning instead of new birds, is there a way to tell?

[Lilysmom]

@Susan Louise, thank you!  Such beautiful photos.  Love!  LM

[Susan Louise]

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@mousiegirl wrote:

@Susan Louise  If the hummers come at different times instead of all at the same time, how can you tell they are not the same birds returning instead of new birds, is there a way to tell?

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@mousiegirl You asked a very involved question which takes a lot of explaination/typing. There is no simple way of explaining. I also don't really know how much you know about the hummers you have around you...based upon your location on the west coast, you have several species of hummingbirds...some that migrate and others that don't. Additionally, I don't know how much you know about each of those species either...

the basics?....well, what do I mean specifically?

Do you know what each hummer species around you looks like? the females? the males? the juvie males?

That some juvie males look just like females without being able to view them up close (like a certified bander would be able to by holding them), having a great zoom camera (not just a smart phone/tablet type of camera), or looking through a pair of binocs.

There are a lot of folks wo love to see their hummer visitors at their feeders, but have no desire to learn more about them by reading reference books. I know you asked a question, but literally, by the time I'm done, I probably will have typed a chapter of War and Peace...LOL

My husband and I had the desire to immerse ourselves into learning all we could about our visitors when they migrate...literally spending lots of $$$ on bird reference books and reading them and viewing thousands upon thousands of pics to see the differences between the hummer species and the sexes...their age...if they were mature or juvies. ALL of that info is needed to ID the birds...

Or do you know a moderate amount of info about hummers? I can at least guess with confidence you aren't an expert since you are asking this question.

That comment was by no means to insult you, but to further point out how involved your question is and I don't know how much you know or don't know about your hummers.

Anyway...

First and foremost, you need time...lots of time...

I sit on our patio which faces north and wait/watch new hummers fly over our fenceline and into our yard and gardens. They either perch on the edges of one of the trees and oversee before they go to the gardens to see if it is safe, or they put on their brakes and hover...deciding which way they want to go first. You have to be here to believe it...that is all I can say about that.

We watch the Monarchs migrate/arrive into our gardens over our north fence too.

Honestly, to know if it's the same bird or not, you literally need to spend hours per day watching your activity. Most folks don't have that kind of time to deligate to watching hummingbirds. Since I am now a homemaker and don't work outside the home, I can put nearly everything else on hold or postpone to doing most chores after sunset or before sunrise.

You also need a great set of binocs and a great zoom camera. We also have security cameras on our feeders.

I already mentioned in an earlier post in this thread to Lucymo that the length of time a hummer stays at our place ranges from just a few minutes (topping off their belly tank), to a half an hour to a couple of hours...for rest, preening, bathing, and a few rounds of feeding (averages about every 20-30 minutes)...

Other hummers have, for example, arrived in the afternoon on a particular day and don't leave til the next morning. Sometimes they need to fill their bellies and/or need the extra rest....sometimes it's due to weather...like it became too windy for them to continue their journey or it got stormy. There are SOOO many variables! The longest we ever had a single hummer stay was 6 days and for the most part it was 2 fold. It arrived undernourished...thin as a rail and for several days it would have been bucking very strong head winds out of the south. It left on a day when it's belly was full and the winds were much more favorable for it to continue to head south.

So again...how do we know wheather or not it's the same bird/s...

1) Close up images (identifying marks/age/sex/species/etc)...are they thin, normal weight or with full bellies?

2) It's behavior...they are as individual as you and me. For example...some feed at just flowers, some at flowers and feeders and others mainly if not strictly at feeders.

3) Some sit at the feeders, others hover...some do both. Some hover at the feeders until they get the full bellies and have to sit and perch

4) Many hummers are missing feathers...have markings...either from injuries or from molting too

Honestly, I can go on and on...

Without being able to have taken close up pics/images,or our binocs, we would never had known we had a few Rufous Hummingbirds here the past few years...which is a RARE sighting for eastern NE!!!

I will share several examples...

The 1st 2 are examples of behavior...both are juvie males (their gorget is not grown in fully) and they are both new to using feeders and trying to figure out how to use them...

[Susan Louise]

@mousiegirl

Here are a couple of juvie males...notice how each of them their gorget feathers are coming in differently. Without a zoom camera or binocs, it would be near impossible to tell them apart...

This 1st one has just a single red feather that is fully grown in...

You can see this juvie male's feathers are growing in differently...

[Susan Louise]

@mousiegirl Here's anoher juvie male...one feather grown in and a bit off from center...

so as you can see, these close-ups surely helps IDing particular birds...

And here's yet another juvie male wearing a beautiful necklace!

[Susan Louise]

@mousiegirl  Here's a female Ruby-throated hummingbird...

Here's a juvie male on the left with markings on it's chest and a mature male on the right...

[Susan Louise]

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@lucymo wrote:

@Susan Louise  Haha to the Gold finch.  They come here every year and pull off all the petals of our coneflowers.  Good shot of the Squirrel.  We get a lot of Squirrels here in our yard and they like to raid the bird feeders. 

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@lucymo  We feed the squirrels here in the winter. The only time they really annoy me is when they bury all the shelled peanuts we feed to the Blue Jays in the winter, and from about now til late Fall they love to bury the huge black walnuts in the shells in our yard/gardens too. The squirrels get the black walnuts 2 blocks down the street from us!!! Maybe we should feel special that they came all that way to bury their nuts here? LOL

[Susan Louise]

@lucymo  Here's a couple more pics...

[mousiegirl]

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@Susan Louise wrote:

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@mousiegirl wrote:

@Susan Louise  If the hummers come at different times instead of all at the same time, how can you tell they are not the same birds returning instead of new birds, is there a way to tell?

---

@mousiegirl You asked a very involved question which takes a lot of explaination/typing. There is no simple way of explaining. I also don't really know how much you know about the hummers you have around you...based upon your location on the west coast, you have several species of hummingbirds...some that migrate and others that don't. Additionally, I don't know how much you know about each of those species either...

the basics?....well, what do I mean specifically?

Do you know what each hummer species around you looks like? the females? the males? the juvie males?

That some juvie males look just like females without being able to view them up close (like a certified bander would be able to by holding them), having a great zoom camera (not just a smart phone/tablet type of camera), or looking through a pair of binocs.

There are a lot of folks wo love to see their hummer visitors at their feeders, but have no desire to learn more about them by reading reference books. I know you asked a question, but literally, by the time I'm done, I probably will have typed a chapter of War and Peace...LOL

My husband and I had the desire to immerse ourselves into learning all we could about our visitors when they migrate...literally spending lots of $$$ on bird reference books and reading them and viewing thousands upon thousands of pics to see the differences between the hummer species and the sexes...their age...if they were mature or juvies. ALL of that info is needed to ID the birds...

Or do you know a moderate amount of info about hummers? I can at least guess with confidence you aren't an expert since you are asking this question.

That comment was by no means to insult you, but to further point out how involved your question is and I don't know how much you know or don't know about your hummers.

Anyway...

First and foremost, you need time...lots of time...

I sit on our patio which faces north and wait/watch new hummers fly over our fenceline and into our yard and gardens. They either perch on the edges of one of the trees and oversee before they go to the gardens to see if it is safe, or they put on their brakes and hover...deciding which way they want to go first. You have to be here to believe it...that is all I can say about that.

We watch the Monarchs migrate/arrive into our gardens over our north fence too.

Honestly, to know if it's the same bird or not, you literally need to spend hours per day watching your activity. Most folks don't have that kind of time to deligate to watching hummingbirds. Since I am now a homemaker and don't work outside the home, I can put nearly everything else on hold or postpone to doing most chores after sunset or before sunrise.

You also need a great set of binocs and a great zoom camera. We also have security cameras on our feeders.

I already mentioned in an earlier post in this thread to Lucymo that the length of time a hummer stays at our place ranges from just a few minutes (topping off their belly tank), to a half an hour to a couple of hours...for rest, preening, bathing, and a few rounds of feeding (averages about every 20-30 minutes)...

Other hummers have, for example, arrived in the afternoon on a particular day and don't leave til the next morning. Sometimes they need to fill their bellies and/or need the extra rest....sometimes it's due to weather...like it goot too windy for them to continue their journey or it got stormy. There are SOOO many variables! The longest we ever had a single hummer stay was 6 days and for the most part it was 2 fold. IT arrived undernourished...thin as a rail and for several days it would have been bucking very strong head winds out of the south. It left on a day when it's belly was full and the winds were much more favorable for it to continue to head south.

So again...how do we know wheather or not it's the same bird/s...

1) Close up images (identifying marks/age/sex/species/etc)...are they thin, normal weight or with full bellies?

2) It's behavior...they are as individual as you and me. For example...some feed at just flowers, some at flowers and feeders and others mainly if not strictly at feeders.

3) Some sit at the feeders, others hover...some do both. Some hover at the feeders until they get the full bellies and have to sit and perch

4) Many hummers are missing feathers...have markings...either from injuries or from molting too

Honestly, I can go on and on...

Without being able to have taken close up pics/images,or our binocs, we would never had known we had a few Rufous Hummingbirds here the past few years...which is a RARE sighting for eastern NE!!!

I will share several examples...

The 1st 2 are examples of behavior...both are juvie males (their gorget is not grown in fully) and they are both new to using feeders and trying to figure out how to use them...

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@Susan Louise  Thank you for all of the info. and wonderful pictures, love the squirrels also.  I just watch them and take pictures, never delved into anything else other than what I can grow in my garden for them.  The hummer is Annie's, though I have seen other colored hummers.  One flew almost up to my face this morning.