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).

Thursday, August 6, 2015

another great day at the sanctuary; separating the boys and girls

Another beautiful day here, with well-behaved visitors who all got an eye
full of good hummer activity. Many visitors ask how one can tell apart the male and female juveniles, since they both have the silver throat and flat tail of the adult females. Often one cannot, but sometimes the boys already have a spot red under the chin -what I call the "drop of blood". Janet Rudolph took this great photo today, which shows this very well. The red spot is made up of several  tiny ruby individual throat feathers. Sometimes it has only 1 feather and is very difficult to see, and sometimes there are several red spots, or none. The males develop their complete ruby-throat during their winters in Central America.  Of course even though only the adult males have the full ruby-red throat, all members of this species belong to the "ruby-throats", and this is the only hummingbird species that breeds on the east coast, or even east of the Mississippi. The flower is rosebud sage, with bog sage in the background. Fred Junior?


More available slots posted to the right, and many more to come soon. Please,  only ask for an AVAILABLE, POSTED, slots.

1 comment:

  1. It was a glorious day Paul! Before I left I saw Fred chase a goldfinch away from behind the seagull cottage deck flowers. The goldfinch flew to another branch on the side and Fred bullied him away from there until he gave up and flew off altogether. What a character! Thank you so much for sharing your bit of paradise, it was great to see you

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