Poor little guy!

He was so cold he just sat there and let me put the camera in his face. He needs a little bird heater :(

Another

Cute! I think he's a Costa's. He is telling you to plant more nectar-producing flowers ;-)

Aw, what a cutie.

Gorgeous hummer. Now to the important stuff: What camera are you using. I want to get a new digital.

Ohhhhh, what a cute little guy! I think you should run out and get him a birdy heater asap! ;)

Sony cyber shot

I think it is an Anna's hummer. Costas are more purple than pink and have quite a bit of white coloring surrounding the gorget.


Is that your yard hummer that has been around for a couple years? Make sure you keep his feeder nice and full, my gang have been dashing through the drops and refilling every couple minutes. I noticed that the female Anna's have returned in the last couple weeks, so nesting season will be upon us. Anna's nest early compared to other hummers, sometimes even in February. We usually have the pleasure of many male Anna's all winter, they don't migrate too much, nor too far, but the girls seem to like to take a trip.... (smart girls!)


Susie

I have several Hummers all year. I think you were referring to "Meany" He was viscious! Haven't seen him in a year :( They have been very busy @ the feeders today. I've gone out twice in the rain to re-fill the regular bird feeders with seed. Their having a ball!

Wooops! That's what I get for hurrying! He's too big for Costa's ;)

Depending upon how the light reflects from the gorget (the brightly colored feathers on male hummingbirds' throats), sometimes a tinge of red is visible in the Costa's--or a brilliant blue--though the predominant color is purple. Anna's (predominantly red gorget) & Costa's (predominantly purple/violet) are year-round residents--though not all of the individual birds stay year-round. Black-chinned (males = deep purple gorget) are arriving now--and will generally be gone by October.

We always received/had baby (Anna's) hummers in January--and occasionally in December.... Costa's typically begin nesting in February.... and black-chinned begin nesting in March.

Just a little hummingbird trivia for the 3 species most common to the Phoenix metropolis :)

p.s. fishknees, I think your mean guy has been here since last summer! My male Costa's has fiercely and vigilantly guarded both feeders in my backyard--even though they're about 25' apart. I swear that the other hummers were working in tandem: one would slip in to feed while the boss was chasing the other :o

This message was edited Mar 11, 2006 8:54 PM

This is helpful info. Now could you also do a size comparison? Are the black chinned the really tiny ones?

hiya sam!
Anna's are largest of the three; Costa's are smallest. (Btw, Costa's are the smallest breeding bird in AZ.) Black-chinned are "slimmer" looking than Costa's. Costa's gorget is longer on the sides than that of the others--and he is a more "compact"--looking bird. All things are relative, though! This is all much easier when you have a frame of reference... and they're not wet! lol

I have little chunky males guarding the feeders year round. Now I have little tiny green ones that are very brave sneaking in. They also are more adventurous hunting for bugs above the lawn and checking out the blue elves flowers. And while the chunky males are engaged in aerial dogfights the little green ones zip in to the feeders.

And totally unrelated but excellent news - Chico, my baby cottontail that disappeared this week while I was at work, has returned and is eating apples that fell from the fruit feeder I bought last week that broke apart in the wind. After our dog killed the one cottontail I was sick to think I lost the second one as well. (Our neighborhood has very few cottontails and quail so we count and name and harbor high hopes for a long and happy lifespan for each one). sam

They're all pugnacious--to varying degrees. They're all small, they all have green on 'em, sam... lol~!!! Okay, get out your gram scale... ;-) Your assignment is to identify the males of these three species--though you may not have all three in your yard. Let's not even discuss the females :O

My male Costa's has finally relented and is "allowing" the Anna's to frequent one of the feeders. I've watched an Anna's building a nest out front--using the fuzzy stuff from the desert broom. Am putting another feeder out front for their convenience... although I have lots o' penstemon and other flowers in bloom :)

Glad your bunny is back!

My hummers are always very sleak and thin, I think I must have "black chinned"- is that right?

If you can, check out their heads. Anna's 'wear a bonnet' meaning the gorgeous color on their gorget goes all over their head. A black chinned looks black below, has a brilliant purple slash, alot of white on the upper breast up to the gorget, but the coloration does not go up over the entire head.

Susie

I'll have to pay closer attention. In fact I think I may start paying attention to all the birds- sounds like fun!

Unbelievably cute.

OK so....where's the gorget? And how is it pronounced? Gore-gay'? Gore-get'?

I say gorge et. It is the colorful feathers on the hummers head and throat that refract light back to display color, i.e. the red on an Anna's head, the purple/black on a black chinned. The light must hit it to refract the light, otherwise it may appear black(ish).

Great time of year to go to southern Az is in August, the hummers are like flies. At SABO (Southern Arizona Birding Observatory) outside of Bisbee aways, Sherri Williamson, who wrote The Peterson Field Guide: Hummingbirds of North America, is a wonderful person to enjoy a birding trip with. Watching her band those little fliers is amazing!

They are conducting an Arizona hummingbird survey, similar to Cornell's Feederwatch. You can get some great info from them. Here is a link to their website with some great photos!
http://www.sabo.org/photoalb/hbsofaz.htm

Susie