Thursday, March 7, 2013

Hummingbirds in Winter

1. anna's hummingbird-kab Anna’s Hummingbird 2-11-13 Tucson, AZ

One of the pleasures of living in Tucson is that I get hummingbirds in winter. While many of our hummingbird species migrate south for the winter, we do have three species that tend to hang around, and two of those species even start to nest and breed in January and February. I mostly get Anna’s hummingbirds here at my house on the east side of Tucson, but when I lived in Sycamore Canyon my main hummingbird species was Costa’s. There were times during the winter that I had upwards of 12 birds at a time at my feeders.

2. Anna's Hummingbird-kab Over the course of this winter I have seen my Anna’s Hummingbird population go up and down, with a high of probably 6 to 7 birds seen at one time. Once in awhile a Costa's will show up, but I am not getting any Broad-billed hummingbirds at the moment, which is the other species of hummingbird that can be seen in various locations around town in the winter. Most winter records of this species are near the Catalina Mountains.

3. Anna's Hummingbird-kab Still, I have five hummingbird feeders up and ready, waiting for the return of Black-chins, Broad-tails and hopefully a few Broad-bills in my neighborhood. Last fall during migration I did see a Rufous Hummingbird and a Magnificent Hummingbird would be magnificent, but I don’t think I am high enough in elevation to get one here in my yard. With cold temperatures, rain and even frost predicted for this weekend spring seems like it is far away, but I just know the hummingbirds will be returning soon!

12 comments:

  1. Oh joy, I love hummingbirds! How lucky you are to see such a variety in your area. I've only spotted Ruby-throated Hummingbirds here in the Midwest. Beautiful photographs, Kathie!

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  2. Hi Kathie, I enjoyed viewing your hummingbird photos :-)

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  3. I can't wait until they all come back!!! It will be so much fun trekking with you to find the "exotics"!

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  4. Kathie, l love your hummers and I am just envious you can see them in the winter. great shots, have a happy weekend!

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    1. Eileen, it is a wonderful benefit of living here in Tucson!

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  5. Oh how wonderful to have these beautiful tiny birds at your feeders such great photos.

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  6. Stunning images, they are such gems and we are so lucky to have them around.

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    1. Celeste, yes we are. I saw a broad-billed at Agua Caliente Park today picking spiders off the window frames of the old ranch house!

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Welcome to my nest! I hope you will enjoy spending time here with me and the birds. Thank you for your comments. I will try to get back to you as soon as I get back from counting more birds.