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Hummingbirds in our garden

20 comments


Anna’s hummingbirds stay around here all winter long. How they survive here?
“When things get tough, they have a nap.”
They suspend their high rate of metabolism by entering a state of torpor – a sort of nightly hibernation, where heart rate and body temperature are reduced to a bare minimum.

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“Calypte Anna” was first described in 1829 by René Primevère Lesson, a French naval surgeon and naturalist. He collected the bird for the private collection of Prince François Victor Masséna, the 2nd Duke of Rivoli, and named it for the duchess of Rivoli, Anna de Belle Masséna.
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First 2 pictures are taken from my chair by my computer. The feeder is fairly close to the window .

Female Anna’s Hummingbird

Male Anna’s Hummingbird
The male’s head and throat are covered in iridescent reddish-pink feathers that can look dull brown or gray without direct sunlight.

Breakfast at Klahanie’s

Few other facts about these birds:
Males and females do not form pairs, and both sexes will likely mate with more than one individual per season.

Anna’s Hummingbirds don’t share well. We have multiple feeders to reduce competition. They are very territorial and defend fiercely

Hummingbirds do not survive on nectar alone.They eat insects and spiders.

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Comments

 

wow they are very happy next to the window. its good that you feed them.
lovely blog.

11 Jan, 2021

 

Thank you SBG. I think that is part of their survival here, many people feed them.

12 Jan, 2021

 

Thanks for the information and brief history lesson - brilliant survival tactics. I get the occasional hummingbird visit depending on what's in bloom. I know they love coral honeysuckle with the clusters of red trumpets full of nectar.

12 Jan, 2021

 

I'm pleasantly surprised that Anna's live year-round in British Columbia, Klahanie, because they live year-round here in Phoenix, Arizona, too!
When do they breed there? Here, the males have been doing their singing and swooping all of last week, and will probably continue for another couple of months.

12 Jan, 2021

 

I'd never get any work done on the computer if I had these little lovelies to look at!
I saw a TV programme about them not so long ago and was fascinated by the information and the slo-mo photography. Breathtaking! Lucky you! I'll swap you my woodpigeons, Klahanie.

12 Jan, 2021

 

Thank you Klahanie we learn new facts every day ,nature is wonderful ..the photos are lovely ..

12 Jan, 2021

 

Lovely to see so many Klahanie ... what are you feeding them on? We saw a few in the garden when we were in Sooke on your island ... such a treat 🙂.

12 Jan, 2021

 

Bathgate, I am glad that they come to your garden. Do they stay during your winter?

Tugbrethil, we enjoyed so many different hummingbirds in your area when we stayed there in the past during winter.
Annas here mate in May and I love to sit on the deck and watch their (male) acrobatic maneuvers.

Thank you Paul.

Anget, I love to watch their behaivour. They are very friendly as they get to know you. Slow-mo is the best way to see them as they move very fast...as a bullet.
We do not have any pigeons here. Our owls would be probably happy to have a few around.

Thank you Amy for your compliment.

Sheila, the recommended nectar is just 1 part of sugar to 4 parts of water. We boil it for a few minutes and then let it cool down completely. As you can imagine we buy lots of sugar. Every feeder is refilled at least once a day and they are many.
I am glad that you could see them in Sooke, Sheila. There are several different species here in summer but they move down south in late fall. Annas are the only ones which stay.

12 Jan, 2021

 

Wonderful -and I didn't know there are several different ones. I'd never imagined you could see them in quantity. No wonder you get through a lot of sugar...

12 Jan, 2021

 

They only visit me in summer when their favorite honeysuckles are in bloom. I tried hanging a nectar bottle but its quickly infested with ants.

13 Jan, 2021

 

Yorkslass, in spring, when Rufus hummingbirds return, we will see more fights over the feeders. There are usually as many Rufus as Anna's in our yard . We put feeders out all year round but they do not drink as much because there are many flowers around they like better.

13 Jan, 2021

 

Ants, wasps, bees and various other birds love the nectar too. We constantly battle them in summer. It can be annoying . No problem in winter.
Warm day today but mostly raining.

13 Jan, 2021

 

Yorkslass, there are over 300 species of humming bird in the New World, but only a small minority live in the U.S and Canada. Here in Phoenix, the Anna's and Ricoh's stay year round, while Rufous, Black chinned, and Broad Tailed hummers migrate through in the spring and fall, and we occasionally get a visit from a Rivoli's--one of the biggest and most spectacular! The Rivoli's rarely hang around long, since the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona are more to its liking. The Chiricahuas also host several other species

14 Jan, 2021

 

Super. They look as if they are 'sharing well' at your feeding station, social distancing?

14 Jan, 2021

 

"Two beak lengths apart" social distancing. :)

15 Jan, 2021

 

Siris, the picture you see here is just an "optical illusion".
They chase each other from the platform and only sit for a few seconds. Couple of them in the picture are looking up ..... they are expecting the attack. It is best seen in a video.
For some reason this spot is very popular (best restaurant in town) and there are many other feeders around not as busy..To me it suggests that they like their social interaction.

16 Jan, 2021

 

Thank you for sharing with us, Klahanie. Beautiful pics of such beautiful birds.

16 Jan, 2021

 

I'm so pleased our weather is terrible today, I've been playing catchup on here again and I had missed this blog Klahanie, think it came out whilst we were having internet problems...
Absolutely fascinating, loved the photo's, thankyou to you for sharing and also to Tug for adding so many interesting facts...
Added to my favs..

26 Mar, 2021

 

Thank you Lincslass for your visit and your comment. I am pleased that you liked it.

27 Mar, 2021

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