A couple of new Ruby-throateds appeared yesterday and really stirred things up in the front yard. My best guess is that I have had at least thirteen birds using the yard in the past two days: 2 Rufous and 11 Ruby-throateds (3 females, 5 adult males, and 5 young males).

Yesterday was a first for winter hummers in my yard. I had 5-6 birds chasing one another in the front yard for much of the day. I'm not sure I've ever witnessed anything like that even during migrations. In the end, a young male Ruby-throated with a stripe of gorget grown in on his left cheek took over the Cassia (Senna) bicapsularis that had previously been held by a female whose missing the tip of her upper mandible. She moved to a Chinese Hat bush just outside the front door. And a young male with a very stippled throat but no gorget feathers yet, maintains the area across the path from there that includes most of the hummingbird plants in the front yard along with two feeders. They are all within 10 feet of each other. Some sharing of these territories is allowed among these birds but any other intruder better beware.

Among the intruders in the front yard were another female, a young male with a minimal line of feathers along the bottom of the gorget, one with a minimal spot in the center, and an adult male. Also seen was the banded male with the damaged bill who sporadically uses the front and side yard. Unfortunately, I observed him a couple of days after the banding looking like he did on the day of banding and 15 minutes later he came back with a bill that was angled 45 degrees up and slightly off centered. I'm amazed he's still here and generally looking healthy.

I wonder if it's just a co-incidence that the backyard with two Rufous wasn't seeing as much activity. Even with them, the back and side yards that they wander are hosting 3 adult male Ruby-throateds and at least one young male along with a periodic visit by a female. Among the Ruby-throateds are adult males that feed in each corner and resides in the respective yards kitty corner to mine. I had suspected that they were there but had not found their roosting perches until now.

The regulars in the yard will get along and allow some crossover of territories so I can always tell if there's new blood in town.

Where does the time go? Doreen Cubie stopped by the yard Saturday morning, December 6th in hopes of confirming the identity of the banded female Rufous who arrived in the yard in August, who is suspected to be the bird banded in November of 2003 and is in her 6th year of visiting our yard.  An added bonus was a second adult female Rufous who just arrived a week earlier.

 

Unfortunately, we were unable to capture the original Rufous. We did trap the new arrival so now both are banded. We also trapped an adult male Ruby-throated with a badly damaged bill. Surprisingly, he had been around for a couple of months and is still coming to feeders. Unfortunately, his bill has been damaged worse. He came to a feeder a couple of days after the banding looking the same and then arrived 15 minutes later with his bill at a 45 degree angle. Like I said though, he still visits feeders and appears healthy.

 

There have been a couple of days with new arrivals since then and yesterday was one of the best as far as activity in the yard. I just made arrangements to replace the septic drainfield within the week so hopefully that won't disturb the birds too much. I've added a number of feeders in parts of the yard away from the front, where the all the noise and people will be, in hopes that the birds will be able to still feel welcome and properly feed during the increase in human activity.

 

At this point, I have at least eleven birds regularly using my yard: 2 adult female Rufous, 2 female Archilochus (Ruby-throated or Black-chinned), 1 young male Archilochus (without any gorget feathers) and 3 that can be identified as Ruby-throats, and at least 3 adult male Ruby-throateds. Still hoping for other species.

 

Songbird activity has been slow without any extraordinary sightings. Clay-colored Sparrows were reported quite a bit throughout the state earlier in the season and Pine Siskins have been reported recently. Both have been in my yard in past years but not yet this year. I've reduced my seed feeding quite a bit due to the increase in cost of all seeds and that has resulted in excessive abuse and waste by the local squirrels so I'm not able to offer the mixed seed feeders that I have in the past. That probably plays to some degree in the shortage of birds in the yard. I do have about a dozen chippies regular in the yard but only an occasional goldfinch.