Visitors
We've had a busy month with visitors. We've been hosting family here on three separate weekends and we flew east for a family birthday in the middle of April, and a neighbor from many years ago back east stopped in, and I've been loving it all.
We've also had hummingbird visitors at the feeder. I'm pretty sure they are black chinned hummingbirds.
The ruby throated hummers we saw in Connecticut were smaller, more iridescent, and their wings made a soft buzzing sound as they flew past. The red throat was unmistakable.
The hummers here in New Mexico are a little bit bigger but more slender, and their tiny bodies look dark. When they fly in to the feeder it sounds like mechanical wind up toys whirring overhead. These black hummingbirds are noisy in the air.
Our little visitors perch on the aspen tree by the deck or right on the fence, then rotor in to the feeder even when we're sitting on the patio. Yesterday two hummingbirds engaged in aerial combat, diving and swooping all afternoon over the feeder. One would approach, the other would drive it off, and back and forth they went in rapid chases to and from the feeder.
I sat in the living room and watched it for an hour until they must have exhausted their tiny selves.
Black chinned hummingbirds are generalists, happy in the southwest's desert lowlands and forested mountains and urban back yards, as long as they have a high tree perch, a selection of flying insects, and some nectar from flowers or feeders. I'm happy to have them as visitors here, even when they buzz the patio with their loud motor wings and fight over the feeder.
We've also had hummingbird visitors at the feeder. I'm pretty sure they are black chinned hummingbirds.
 |
| adult black chinned male from hummingbird ID site |
The ruby throated hummers we saw in Connecticut were smaller, more iridescent, and their wings made a soft buzzing sound as they flew past. The red throat was unmistakable.
The hummers here in New Mexico are a little bit bigger but more slender, and their tiny bodies look dark. When they fly in to the feeder it sounds like mechanical wind up toys whirring overhead. These black hummingbirds are noisy in the air.
 |
| female black chinned hummingbird from ID site |
Our little visitors perch on the aspen tree by the deck or right on the fence, then rotor in to the feeder even when we're sitting on the patio. Yesterday two hummingbirds engaged in aerial combat, diving and swooping all afternoon over the feeder. One would approach, the other would drive it off, and back and forth they went in rapid chases to and from the feeder.
I sat in the living room and watched it for an hour until they must have exhausted their tiny selves.
Black chinned hummingbirds are generalists, happy in the southwest's desert lowlands and forested mountains and urban back yards, as long as they have a high tree perch, a selection of flying insects, and some nectar from flowers or feeders. I'm happy to have them as visitors here, even when they buzz the patio with their loud motor wings and fight over the feeder.
Comments