1:46 p.m. - 2008-09-19
I am Woman, hear me roar!!!!
Currently Reading
Off Season
By Anne Rivers Siddons
Here's some interesting information I found on the Internet about hummingbirds....
"Just like the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the male Rufous Hummingbird is the easier of the two sexes to identify. He also has a characteristic that lends itself to this bird's name, its rufous colored crown, tail and sides. This male hummingbird also has feathers on its back that are green, rufous or a combination of these two colors, its breast is white and its throat is an orange-red. The female Rufous Hummingbird has a green back and crown, a white breast and a streaked throat. The female's tail feathers are rufous with white tips. Even though these two species of hummingbirds in Indiana are different in color, they are about the same size. The male Ruby-throated Hummingbird weighs about 3.1 grams and the female will weigh just a little more. The male Rufous Hummingbird weighs about 3.2 grams and its female will also weigh a little bit more. So identifying them by size alone will not work. Learning the differences in their colorations is the best way to identify them.
The male Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the easiest to identify, probably of all species of hummingbirds. Its name gives away the easiest characteristic it has for identification, its ruby colored throat. This tiny male bird also has an emerald colored back and a forked tail. Unfortunately, the female Ruby-throated Hummingbird is not as brightly colored as the male, making it harder to determine which species it actually is, because the majority of female hummingbirds are not the brightly colored of the two sexes. However, with careful inspection, the female can be identified with having the same emerald colored back as the male, but she will have a white breast and throat and her tail has white tips and is round instead of forked.
On our porch, she is known as Hildegard!
Hil "Da" Guard........(GET IT?)..... has become VERY territorial this past week. It is nearing the time for the migration and she is getting tense!
Now, RH (Retired Husband) and I could be wrong....BUT we think Hil "da" Guard could be the ruby throated species. She has light feathers on her chest and throat so far. She has an emerald green back and tail and white tips on the tail. Of course, we haven't gotten as close as we would like but have taken some pictures of her.
"However, perhaps the easiest way to identify these tiny little birds is by using the calendar. Fortunately, for hummingbird enthusiasts in Indiana, these birds visit Indiana at different times of the year on their annual migration from North to South or from South to North. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have a tendency to arrive in Indiana in April, with the first ones being seen usually the first week of April and they generally have left Indiana by the end of September. Now this does not mean that there will not be a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in Indiana after September or before April, this is just when they are generally seen. The Rufous Hummingbird usually passes through Indiana on its journey South, in November and will usually stay until late in January."
We have been seeing Hil "da" Guard since we first put up the feeder in early August..
Hil "da" Guard has been quite busy these past few afternoons and early evenings chasing away another hummingbird. I am wondering is one is a ruby throat and one is the rufous and that is why they are fighting.
The chas-er is a wee bit bigger than the chas-ee also. When Hil "da" Guard has chased the other away, she goes back to the feeder....has a victory drink....for a long time....and then flies to a bush near the feeder. There, she sits just waiting for the other bird to dare to come back...and she takes off like she is Tom Cruise in Top Gun and chases the other bird away. They have circled the front yard, climbed high over the garage roof, swooped down around the side of the house and flown around the back yard and come back to the front. Then, Hil "da" Guard has another victory drink....again for a very l...o...n...g time and settled back on the bush to stand guard again.
One recent evening, RH was sitting on the porch....the other bird had the NERVE to try to approach to get a drink from the feeder and Hil "da" Guard would have no part of it. She took off across the length of the porch and as RH said..."It was like seeing a B 52 coming at me....". He sat back in his chair....way back...as Hil "da" Guard flew out the end of the porch and took off after the other bird.
When I was reading about hummingbirds, I was very surprised to learn that they can be banded. And apparently, it is not unusual for the same hummingbirds to return to the same yard for a few years.
The band is about the size of one of the numbers in the year that is stamped on the penny!... Can you imagine doing that?
*****
Thursday evening, in between the battle of the hummingbird feeder challenge, I saw a nuthatch on our big tree in the front yard again. It landed on the trunk, walked nearly all the way down to the grass, turned and walked all the way back up to a small branch and then flew away. I found a picture on the Internet and I can confirm this is really a nuthatch that I saw.
We still have not seen any birds feeding at the other bird feeders we put out a couple of weeks ago. I think between the berries on the bushes around our house and the bugs; they must be getting plenty of food elsewhere. We will be keeping the feeders out to see if we can attract any birds. We do have a couple of female cardinals that land in our two lilac bushes on either side of the porch regularly. And we have seen a beautiful male cardinal flying around. He actually landed ON the feeder but didn't stay to dine.
***
I also want to report that RH and I just took a bike ride for about 10-15 minutes. I did NOT fall once! I couldn't believe the amount of anxiety I felt, though. I even managed to stop and get off the bike twice without falling. Hopefully I am making progress....at least no new bruises this time!
GO......ME!!!!
