The Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary: white-throated mountain gem

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, December 8, 2016

white-throated mountain gem

filmed at Sevegre Lodge, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, feeding on Salvia leucantha. A male - notice the beautiful pale blue patch on the crown at certain viewing angles. 4X slo-mo
San Gerardo was one of our favorite stays - we actually stayed at Trogon Lodge, which is utterly beautiful - the garden with lots of hummingbirds, the various buildings, the rushing mountain stream in a mountain cleft, the little gas fire warming us at night at 7000 feet altitude, the surrounding cloud forest. The neighboring mountain the sinisterly-named "Peak of Death", reaches 11,322 feet and the pass we ascended before we going down into the valley is at 10,942, where we were definitely short of breath. A couple of days early we were on the Pacific beaches.
Here's another clip at 2X slo-mo

2 comments:

Jamie AdamsDecember 9, 2016 at 5:49 AM
Hey dad, I think they recently split the White-throated Mountain-gem into two species with the White-throated in Panama and the Gray-tailed in Costa Rica. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey-tailed_mountaingem
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Paul AdamsDecember 9, 2016 at 8:19 AM
Jamie - thanks for raising this thorny question - just what I needed! The Wiki article is interesting, though it asserts that the male cap is green whereas my video clearly shows it's blue (from the right angle). Maybe cyan/aqua is best?
I am delving into the "splitting" question and might write a blog post about speciation in general. Basically it seems to me that the gray-tail/white-throated split of closely related mountain-gems (Lampornis genus) is not strongly supported by available genetic evidence.
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FAQs

1. How can I visit? Unless you are an invited friend or personal guest of the owner, Paul Adams, you cannot. The sanctuary is now permanently closed to the general public.

2.Why did the sanctuary close? The sanctuary opened, on a very limited basis, during 1998-2017. However, a neighbor, Kamal Bherwani, and 2 former neighbors, Fred Terry and Shawn Hamilton, brought a $3 million lawsuit, and forced complete and permanent closing. The plaintiffs claimed, incorrectly, that the sanctuary was a "commercial business". Though no evidence for this claim was, or could be, produced, the owner decided to settle the lawsuit and permanently close.

3. When do the hummingbirds arrive and leave, and where do they go for the winter?

They arrive on Long Island late april, and early may. They leave between aug 1 and oct 1. The adult males arrive and leave first, then the adult females, then the young, in order of fledging. They all go to central America via the Gulf of Mexico.

3. What varieties do we have at the sanctuary?

Only the ruby-throat (only the adult male has the ruby throat). This is the only one that breeds east of the Mississipi. The US has about 9 other species but they are all western.

4. Why are there rocks in the trees? How long have you had this place?

I have had the property for 27 years and each year I put a new rock to mark the beginning of a new hummingbird season (may 1).

5. What is the best place to sit to see hummingbirds?

On your bottom! Since you may have to wait a bit choose the spot that best suits you.

6. How can I attract hummers to my yard?

Plant cardinal flower (right variety!) and black-and-blue salvia, maintain a couple of small clean feeders, both placed where you spend a lot of time outdoors (or in front of a picture window). Read this blog or lihummer.org for further suggestions.