Cold day in Southeast Texas

Looks like our high temperature today is going to be 40 degrees F. Maybe 41, but that's stretching it a bit. An intermittent cold mist is falling. With wind chill, it feels about 31 outside. But, wimp that I am, I'm spending the day inside.

My bird watching today has all been done from my windows. I can see that activity has picked up tremendously at the back yard feeders, but the front yard feeder still seems to be abandoned.

As I sit in my study/office, I have a constant companion just outside my window. I've showed her to you before. Here she is today.

On cold days like today, this little Rufous Hummingbird saves her energy by staying close to her food source. She sits on top of the hook that holds the feeder, which also puts her close by the blossoms of the shrimp plant and the 'Mystic Spires' salvia. Smart little bird!

As I stood close to the window snapping these pictures, she turned to look at me. "You lookin' at me?" seemed to be her sentiment.

I'm just glad that I have at least one bird that I can watch in warm comfort on such a miserable day.

Brrrr!

It's a chilly and drizzly day here. The temperature was 50 degrees F when I got up this morning and it has been falling since. It's presently in the 40s and seems even colder.

I've spent most of the morning in my office/library working at my computer. At one point, I looked out my window to see a female Rufous Hummingbird feeding at the nectar feeder I had hung there. Then she perched on top of the feeder post and I was able to snap a couple of pictures.

 As she ruffled her feathers against the chill, "Brrr!" she seemed to be saying. "Where did yesterday's 75 degrees go?"

Rufous Hummingbirds are well equipped to handle cold weather, even colder than the 40s, so I'm sure she'll be just fine. But I know just how she feels. If I had feathers, I'd be ruffling them, too!

Wordless Wednesday: Rufous with hibiscus

More Rufous pictures

I staked out the Cape honeysuckle plant this morning to try to get some more - and better - shots of the Rufous Hummingbird that has claimed the plant as his own. I'm still in search of that one great or even really good shot of the bird, but here's a bit of what I was able to capture today.

Rufous alert!

I apologize for this rather bad picture but wanted to show you a glimpse of the latest feathered visitor to my yard. Yes, the Rufous Hummingbirds have definitely arrived!

I had thought that I had one weeks ago but was never able to confirm it to my satisfaction. If it was a Rufous, it was probably just passing through.

But this one has been here for at least two days now and seems to be making himself at home. That twig where he is sitting is located just to the right of my Cape honeysuckle plant which is in glorious bloom at the moment, and it seems to be a favorite perch of his. From there, he can defend the honeysuckle from other hummers.

Cape honeysuckle blossoms are a great source of nectar for hummingbirds.

My challenge in coming days will be to try to get a better picture of the little critter. It won't be easy because he is almost constantly on the move in his battle with the several other hummingbirds visiting my yard at the moment.

Still here

I've had the sense recently that our winter birds seem to be staying with us longer this year than in the past. So, to check my memory, I looked back at my previous years' records on eBird to see what they showed. As often happens, I found that my memory was somewhat faulty.

My records show that my latest sighting of American Goldfinches in my yard was on April 9, 2011, so the fact that I still have some in my yard here at the first of April is not that unusual. But there do seem to be more of the birds that are making the transition to their spring feathers in my yard. Usually, we only see them in their gray-green winter clothes, but this year bright yellow and black birds are common in the yard.

This male American Goldfinch, in my yard over the weekend,  has changed about halfway into his spring clothes.

My latest yard sighting of Pine Siskins was on April 27, 2011, so they could potentially still be hanging around for another month.

The siskins are still the most numerous bird species in my yard and at my feeders as they were for most of the winter.

Now, I only have one year's previous experience with Rufous Hummingbirds, but last year, my first year to host the birds during the winter, they were last seen in my yard on March 27. So, already, they have stayed longer than their previous record and they are now outnumbered daily by the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds passing through. And still they linger.

There are plenty of blossoms for the birds to sip from now, but this little guy still likes to visit the feeder throughout the day.

On the other hand, our winter warblers do seem to have fled my yard and my Red-breasted Nuthatches are long gone, though other birders in the area have reported them throughout March. The season is definitely in transition. Who will be next to show up?

The Ruby-throats arrive!

While working in my backyard today, I saw my first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the year, an adult male.

Typically, the adult males are the first to arrive in the spring and they seldom hang around for more than a few days. Then they are on the move again, headed farther north to their breeding grounds. Later the females and young birds will arrive and, if we are lucky as we have been in recent years, one of those females will choose to stay with us through the summer and raise her family here.

But, for now, at least one adult male Ruby-throat has arrived, much to the consternation of the adult female Rufous who is still in the yard. There have already been some furious chases today!

The young male Rufous that spent the winter here may have moved on. I haven't actually seen him for a few days now. I would expect the adult female to head northwest soon, also. But there will still be plenty of hummingbird activity in the yard for weeks to come, now that the Ruby-throats are passing through.

More winter hummers!

I stepped out into my backyard and into the middle of a war today. The hummingbirds were going nuts! The chittering noise and activity were incredible. It seemed like a lot for just two hummingbirds.

I sat down to watch for a while and quickly realized that it was not just two hummingbirds. There were at least three and possibly four involved in the conflicts. The little critters zip around so quickly that it's hard to absolutely confirm that there were more than three, but I saw three at the same time so I know there are at least that many.

I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures, but I really can't be sure if I was photographing new arrivals or my "regulars."

Well, this one I'm pretty sure is a regular because she's sitting on the favorite perch of my longest-term visitor. This female Rufous has been here at least since early September.

And this one, I believe, is the juvenile male who's been here for several weeks. This is the feeder that he considers his private preserve, the one where he regularly feeds throughout the day and from which he chases any interlopers.

But this one, half-hidden behind a grape leaf still clinging to the bare vines, may be one of the newcomers.

Regardless of how many there are, based on their voices alone, even though I haven't yet been able to get a good confirmed look at the newcomer(s?), I believe they are all Rufous Hummers. I would be thrilled beyond words to find something more exotic in my yard, but I know it isn't likely.

In an effort to reduce the conflict, I did pull out another sugar water feeder from my cabinet and filled and hung it in the magnolia tree. Maybe that will give me a better chance of actually getting the new bird or birds into my viewfinder so I can accurately identify them.

I'm gonna stop assuming she's gone!

Whenever I fail to see the female Rufous Hummingbird around for several days, I assume she much have moved on and I have reported that here...several times now. And then I'll be outside working in my yard and I look up and there she is on her favorite perch in the crape myrtle tree. And so it was again today after I had just told you yesterday that she was probably gone.

Yep, it's her. She hasn't gone anywhere.

So here's my plan: Even if I don't see her for a while, I'm not going to assume any more that she is gone. On the contrary, I will assume that she is still here - just hanging out in some other part of the yard. I'll keep the feeders cleaned and filled for her just in case she wants a snack other than the blossoms that are still blooming. In a few weeks, we'll probably have frost and she'll need to depend on those feeders more than she does now, so they'll be there waiting for her.

And so will I, should she decide to show herself to me again.

More feathered visitors - big and very small

I spent part of Sunday afternoon in my backyard doing observations for my second weekend of FeederWatching. It had been several days since I had seen or heard the little female Rufous Hummingbird that had spent several weeks in my yard, so imagine my delight when I heard the chattering that announced a Rufous among the shrubbery.

When I finally was able to locate the bird and get my binoculars trained on it, though, I was in for a surprise. It was not the female but an adult male in glorious full rufous color! Of course I didn't have my camera - I never do seem to have it at these moments - so I ran inside to get it, hoping that the bird would stick around. It was feeding from my Cape honeysuckle so I figured that might keep it nearby for a while.

When I got back outside though the bird had disappeared. I sat down to watch and wait, hoping that it would return, but then suddenly my attention was distracted by another bird.

Yes, it was our resident Cooper's Hawk. He flew through the yard and perched in my neighbor's pine tree. He sat there for several minutes, long enough for me to take a series of pictures.

Once the hawk showed up, all bird activity in the yard stopped and everything became quiet and still. After several minutes the hawk flew on his way, but the Rufous Hummingbird never returned - at least while I was watching. Again today I looked for him but never saw him. He may have moved on or he may just be hiding among the leaves laughing in his feathers at my futile attempts to get his picture!

Still here!

Since returning from our vacation, I had not seen any hummingbirds in the yard. I had decided that they had all probably moved along with the cooler weather we've been having lately. Yesterday, though, I was sitting in the backyard and out of the corner of my eye I caught a movement in a crape myrtle tree. I looked up to see this.

It was the little Rufous female that has been in residence here since late summer, sitting on one of her favorite perches. It seems like she really may be intending to spend the winter. I think she's the only one left now. At least, I haven't seen any others or heard any other activity around the yard.

Things continue to be pretty quiet here with little happening around the feeders. That's significant because this weekend is the start of Project FeederWatch. (Have you signed up yet? It's not too late!) My first two-day report period will be Saturday and Sunday. I just hope I'll have something to report.

One species that I hope to have to report is the Red-breasted Nuthatch. When I first walked outside a couple of mornings ago, I could swear that I heard one of the birds in the backyard, although I never actually caught sight of it. When we were in Big Bend, I did see one of the tiny birds and even managed to get a (not very good) picture.

This bird was observed and photographed at the Sam Nail Ranch site in the park. Wonderful little bird!

Also, I haven't yet actually seen any American Goldfinches here, only maybe heard one a few weeks ago, but last night I dreamed of the birds and I clearly saw them flying over my yard. Do dream birds count?

Wordless Wednesday: On alert

Wordless Wednesday: Rufous on guard

Return of the Rufous

As I've reported here over the last two or three weeks, the hummingbird activity in my yard has been frantic. There have been several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds passing through, but I really had not had much of a chance to get out and observe the action. Until today.

Guess what I found? It's not just RTHs. I've got Rufous Hummingbirds, too!

I'd had a couple of the little birds spend the season with me last winter and I was certainly hoping they would return, but I never expected them this early. As soon as I realized they were here, I went and grabbed my camera and tried to record their presence.

An adult male was cooperative enough to sit still on his favorite perch for a while as I snapped away.

His head was constantly swiveling as he responded to the presence of other hummers in the area.

 He was ready to take off at a moment's notice to defend his space.

No movement escaped his notice!

"Who's that over there? Is she a threat?"

An adult female was sitting just a couple of feet away from him on another bare twig.

She, too, was keeping a beady eye on all those other hummer interlopers.

 Left, right, left, right - that little head was constantly in motion.

Look at those tiny, tiny feet. These birds never cease to amaze me. How can something so small be so perfectly a bird? How can they even be in the same family as Whooping Cranes or Bald Eagles?

I took my nectar feeders down and scrubbed them and refilled them and a little later I was rewarded by seeing one of the adult males visiting one of them.

Hmmm...I wonder if there might be other hummer species in my yard that I haven't seen yet?