BASICS


BASICS: "Hummingbirds.....where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with reverence..." (J. J. Audubon).
This is a blog about my summer life at the Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary, at my winter garden, Calypso, in the Bahamas, and aspects of life in general.
This private sanctuary is now permanently closed to the general public, as a result of a lawsuit brought by a neighbor. Only my friends and personal guests may visit (paul.adams%stonybrook.edu).

Monday, May 26, 2014

yesterday at the sanctuary

Mostly just hard work, but during short breaks I did see quite a bit of activity, with both males and females making brief visits to various feeders. Then, in the evening, while eating supper on the back deck, I saw a male ("The" male?) first visit a feeder just in front of me, then come and perch for 30 seconds on a twig on the back deck no more than 10 feet away. He looked rather handsome. Then, he went quickly in succession to 3 more feeders around the back deck. he was clearly checking that they had good nectar, and should be included in his patrols of his territory. I've added some feeders along the  Woodland Walk, and I'll watch to see if he has also added those to his patrol. A few minutes later he re-appeared and launched a mating dance almost over my head. Not super-high (15 feet?) and onlyabout a half dozen swings. The recipient of his attentions appeared to be in a Viburnum carlesii bush just in front of the deck, but she was obsured from my view by leaves.
I suspect I'm seeing the settling in of resident hummers, and that activity will dwindle as the females start nesting.



As I wrote before my camera has packed in ("System Error Zoom"), so I'm posting a couple of videos from 2 days ago. The first shows a hummer briefly hovering over a clump of native columbine (Aquilegia condenses), the main hummer-flower at this time of year (though the coral honeysuckle blossoms are opening up too).


The second video shows some flowering iris (not a hummer-plant) and columbine






2 comments:

  1. I saw my first hummer of the season I believe she is a female as she had white tips on her tail feathers .. am very excited she seemed to be checking it all out she did not feed while I was watching it is very possible that she did while I was out and about. .. This sighting was in the front of my house I am going to also hang feeders in the back as the front is a little busy at times .. I was so happy to see her !!! :)

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  2. Congratulations! Definitely an adult female. Take care of her! What flowers do you have in bloom at the moment?

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