Tag Archives: bird feeder

‘Rassing – a surprise visitor – what a delight!

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(Warning – this is a bit of a long blog!) Several years ago, what was likely a rufous hummingbird took up residence in my yard during the winter months. That was really unexpected — while it’s not uncommon for migrating or some resident hummingbirds (especially ruby-throats, Archilochus colubris, above) to spend wintertime in North Carolina, particularly along the coast, it’s not so common in the central part of the state. That experience taught me that it’s a good idea to keep up a nectar feeder in the winter as you never know when a stray migrant might show up. In 2015 and 2016, I traveled with fellow birders to visit people who had a buff-breasted (Amazilia yucatanensis) and calliope hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) wintering at their homes. In actuality, however, I didn’t really expect a rare passerby in my yard.

 

It was consequently with great surprise that I saw a hummer hovering at the nectar feeder last week. “Oh, wow!” I thought; “a ruby-throated hummer is passing through as a very late migrant.” I grabbed my camera to take a few shots and immediately felt perplexed.

 

The bird looked like he had a purple rather than ruby or red gorget (throat feathers). The white patch behind his eye also showed prominently because of his very dark head.

To me, it also looked as if this hummer had blue patches on his tail feathers. (Most say his flanks are green and a hummingbird expert said he has iridescent black tail feathers; the way the light reflects off them made me see blue, however.)

I got a few photos and cautiously asked birding experts on a facebook group if he could possibly be a black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri), also sometimes known as the Alexander hummingbird. It seemed unlikely as their normal range is the Western part of the Northern hemisphere, reaching north into Canada (Alberta and British Columbia), east to Oklahoma, and as far south as Mexico, where most spend the winter.

A couple people thought I might be correct, but most thought it was a ruby-throated hummingbird. My spring-summer ruby-throated residents had left at least a month ago but I thought perhaps a late migrant might have arrived. The next day, I saw the bird again and became convinced that it was a black-chinned hummer; his purple gorget was very obvious to me. I posted new photos and now the experts agreed that I was correct. That was very cool – I got a lifer without even leaving my own yard!

 

A couple days later, North Carolina’s hummingbird researcher, Susan Campbell, came to my home to band the unusual visitor. I invited a friend who had been to bird bandings in my yard before to come for the happy event.

Susan arrived early and first set up a cage trap for ‘Rassing (short for the Dutch word verrassing, which means surprise; I wanted him to have a name during his stay 😊). She left the door open with a long string attached and hung the nectar feeder on the outside. It wasn’t long at all before the bird arrived for a drink. When he left, Susan moved the nectar feeder inside the cage.

‘Rassing returned for another drink and flew right into the cage, which Susan shut promptly. She had already laid out her banding materials so she could remove him from the trap promptly.

He went into a small bag (the kind often used to hold birds for banding) which Lucretia held while Susan began filling out the paperwork.

Then the actual banding procedure began. Susan first checked his legs to ensure that he hadn’t been banded already – the hummers rarely show their legs so that was necessary.

Then she got ready to put a thin red metal band on his tiny leg with a silver band showing his numeric code for identification in case he is caught again some time (Band number 7100 (M)-41902).

She checked the length of his bill – 19.19 mm. She also advised that bird feeders with long slits are not preferred even if the birds like them. It turns out that the thin slots can rub against the bill and wear it down, damaging the bill and making it vulnerable to infection. (I afterwards enlarged the slots into ovals and circles and went back to a couple other feeders I had with larger holes.)

She blew on his stomach feathers to check his fat; he was not a hefty bird but certainly a healthy adult male. His weight turned out to be 3.09 g. She also recorded his body length.

She stopped for a moment so I could take a few photos trying to get a good shot of the purple gorget. It looked like ‘Rassing was trembling but this was the vibrations from his rapid breathing. (When resting at 91⁰ F, they take about 245 breaths per minute; at 55⁰ F, this rises to 420 breaths per minute!!) Susan thought he was acting fairly calm.

She measured his short tail (23.5 mm), as well as his wings (40.42 mm). The female black-chinned hummer would have more rounded wing feather tips than this male.

 

Susan took a few photos of ‘Rassing and he got a few long drinks from a feeder held by Lucretia. Then Susan gave me the honor of releasing him – and to my delight, he chose to sit in my hand for what seemed to be at least 90 seconds. I could feel him breathing and it was a real thrill to see him so close. With a little flutter of his wings he took off – and then stayed away from the feeder for quite some time.

 

I added a feeder in the backyard and ‘Rassing began preferentially feeding there – perhaps the front yard had acquired some unpleasant memories. However, at the end of the day, I would remove the backyard feeder so that visitors who wanted to see him had a better chance of seeing him dine at the front-yard feeders.

 

 

A fair number of birders were interested in being able to add him to their life, state and county bird lists, so I offered to schedule visits through a birding listserv for a few people at a time. ‘Rassing appeared more reticent to stay at the feeder when there were more than 2 or 3 people watching, which is understandable. Who wants an audience for each meal and snack you eat??

When it rained, the feathers atop his head clumped together, giving him a new “hair-do.”

 

 

It appears that this species of hummingbird has not been studied much. I found his behavior interesting and spent a good amount of time observing him (chores had to wait). When I watched him leave the feeder and go to a nearby tree, he would sometimes watch me (turnabout fair play, of course).

 

 

He seemed very comfortable with lots of other bird species at nearby feeders. Perhaps it gave him a safer feeling.

‘Rassing tended not to sit on feeders, as ruby-throated hummers often do. Instead, he mainly hovered and vigorously pumped his short tail quite a lot. I learned that this tiny bundle of energy was breathing at a flight rate of about 1260 beats per minute!

 

Occasionally, you could see the band on his leg but mostly he kept his legs tucked into his body.

In the evenings, he came around nearly the same time each day to have a longer drink and then he sometimes perched while feeding.

 

A Cornell University website says that black-chinned hummers rarely stay at a feeder longer than a day during migration, even when food is scarce. In my yard, he had access to lots of bugs (I have a small pond) and three types of sage/salvia were still blooming. Indeed, he sometimes came to the feeder with pollen covering the top of his bill.

Yesterday morning, ‘Rassing apparently had decided it was time to move on. After the warmest Halloween on record in our area, the temperature plunged during the night to the 30s. The next morning was the same and he may have decided it was time to go to warmer climes.

 

I did feel lucky that he graced my yard with his presence for a week; it gave me something to celebrate during a personally challenging time. The oldest known black-chinned hummer was more than 11 years old; if ‘Rassing likes going east during migration, perhaps he’ll stop by again next year – wouldn’t that be a tremendous surprise! 😊

 

My special bird in autumn 2018

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Well, having had time to finally process photos as the year end approaches, I’m “on a roll” with posting blogs in contrast to other months in 2018. I have two more to post on mammals this year. This one is to commemorate a real birding treat that came to me during the snowstorm that was featured in my last two blogs.

 

There had been reports on birding sites and listservs that some bird species which usually don’t come too far south during the winter were on the move this year to warmer climes. They included birds that sometimes arrive in North Carolina (NC) in winter, but who don’t always come in large numbers (an “irruption”) such as pine siskins (Spinus pinus, above) and purple finches (Haemorhous purpureus, below).

  

I’ve also been lucky to see red-breasted nuthatches (Sitta canadensis), another irruption species, either in my yard or on nature walks.

 

So why are they coming here in numbers?  It turns out that trees in the northern boreal forests are not producing enough food sources that these birds need to survive winter weather such as conifer seeds and berries (from trees such as hemlock, spruce, firs, alders and larch).

What was really exciting for birders in NC, however, was that some other bird species are also seeking new winter foraging areas. They include redpolls, crossbills and the gorgeous evening grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) who are seen here only rarely.

I had only ever seen a photo of these grosbeaks and thought it would be fun to see one in person. Members of a listserv mentioned that these grosbeaks had been spotted in Virginia, just above the NC border, so we should be prepared to perhaps see them.

On my visits to the Brumley Nature Preserve, I spent time in the spruce areas in the hope of spotting one, but I had no such luck. And then as the snow was falling heavily on the first morning of our snowstorm, I caught sight of a bright yellow and black bird on a feeder as I looked out my window. Lo and behold, when I grabbed my camera I discovered a male evening grosbeak on a feeder!

What was even more exciting was that he was accompanied by two female birds, both of whom were very lovely as well. I took lots of photos.

They finally flew off and I counted myself very lucky indeed. A while later, when the snow had stopped for a while, I was watching the feeders again and the threesome returned to my delight. They fed and then rested on feeder poles.

I tried to go outside quietly so I could photograph them without a window between us but they were quite skittish and left quickly as soon as I appeared. They flew to the tops of nearby tall pines and then disappeared off into the distance. They were not shy when I stood in front of the living room window, however.

The trio reappeared a third time and I stayed behind the window to admire them. It was interesting to see how they could look different, depending on their posture. The bird above looked “tall” as it fed next to the Eastern bluebird. And then the other looked fat and fluffy on the feeder pole – even looking as if it had an outsized head when it leaned forward a bit!

 

They left in the afternoon and did not return, even when it snowed again the next day. A fellow birder who lives northwest of me spotted a male evening grosbeak on one of her feeders that day – the birds were obviously en route to another destination. I hope they found a good food source area for the rest of the winter. And my photos will remind me of their wonderful visit, which made this snowstorm one to remember. 😊

Costa Rican rambles 6A – Los Cusingos

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Finally, back to Costa Rica (in memory)! The past couple months were very busy and often stressful for me, so it is so very nice to again look back to the wonderful days we had looking for Central American birds (and other wildlife) in Costa Rica. On the fourth day of our 9-day trip, we moved to another hotel for a couple nights, stopping several times along the way to bird along roads. The photos from this day were not that great, but they do provide an impression of what we were seeing.

Before we left, we birded the grounds of the hotel where we had spent the night. There were some pretty flowers and a white-crested coquette hummingbird (Lophornis adorabilis), as well as a rather large long-horned borer beetle (perhaps Callipogon barbatus species, but that’s not certain).

We spent some time peering into a rather dark and dense brushy area, looking for uncommon wrens. I was able to photograph a rufous-breasted wren (Pheugopedius rutilus) with some difficulty. Then, just before boarding our bus, a yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) perched in a nearby tree, giving us some nice views.

  

Our first stop, however, was a park called Los Cusingos, which is a property formerly owned by US botanist Alexander Skutch. He lived there for 63 years until his death at the age of 99 years. While Skutch earned an income collecting plants for museums, his passion was birds and he wrote more than 40 books and 200 papers on ornithonology.

  

Now his former home is part of a bird sanctuary run by the Tropical Science Center and you can see a variety of birds, like this buff-throated saltator (Saltator maximus) and the yellow-olive flycatcher (Tolmomyias sulphurescens).

        

The staff had put out fruit on a feeding station to attract birds and this brought in several, including a female Cherrie’s tanager (Ramphocelus costaricensis) and a golden-hooded tanager (Tangara larvata).

     

The station was also very attractive to a red-tailed squirrel (Sciurus granatensis), who was not in the least perturbed by our presence nearby.

We set off onto the trails in search of new avian species but also had time to admire many types of trees and plants, which I still must identify. Some had very sharp spines.

The dense foliage with a little sun creating dappled views made photography a challenge for me. But I did get a couple photos of a little bird called the plain xenops (Xenops minutus).

As we hiked, a few beautiful butterflies appeared; the one with orange spots was, I believe, a crimson patch (Chlosyne janais) and the other was a zebra-striped hairstreak (Panthiades bathildis).

A chestnut-sided warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica), familiar to me from North Carolina, put in an appearance and a lovely little lesser greenlet (Hylophilus decurtatus) peered out from some large leaves.

A summer tanager (Piranga rubra), which I’ve been lucky to have in my own yard, was a pleasure to see, as was a spot-crowned euphonia (Euphonia imitans).

  

One of my favorite birds, of which I unfortunately had blurry photos, was the entertaining red-capped manakin (Ceratopipra mentalis). He stayed very high in the canopy and was sometimes behind leaves but, when he emerged, he did a great sideways moonwalk back and forth on the branch, which was part of his courtship behavior. What a very cool sighting!

   

Back near the entrance to the reserve, there were some lovely orchids and a brilliant green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) to see us off as we set off on the road – to be continued in the next blog!

  

Costa Rican rambles 5A: the Talari Mountain Lodge

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This edition of Costa Rican rambles will be a two-parter. Remember that you can click on a photo to see it larger and then click the back arrow to go back to the blog. The Talari Mountain Lodge, located in the El General Valley next to the Chirripo River, became our pied-à-terre for two nights. We had lush surroundings, as you can see from our view looking out of the dining area.

 

Several of the signs were made of old tires that had been artistically cut and painted – beautifully and colorfully done! Some hanging plant holders had also had a previous life as tires.

There were some other decorations, too – a brightly painted cart and some snakes (we only saw one real one during the trip).

Having gotten some coffee and tea, we set out to see the lodge surroundings before breakfast. After passing a strangler-fig covered tree (Ficus aurea), we stopped by the rooms in which some of our group were staying. There we were welcomed by a very handsome roadside hawk (Rupornis magnirostris).

We neared the river, which was rather low. Some of our group members managed to catch sight of an otter there a few times but I never had that sighting. I did see a sandpiper on a rock in the river, which our guide said was a spotted sandpiper but it looked like a solitary sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) to me.

 

The trees along the banks were filled with birds. One of the first that really caught my eye was the bay-headed tanager (Tangara gyrola). I would have given it a different common name, but its distinct head color really did set off its beautiful blue and green feathers, which looked almost neon in the bright sunlight  .

 

 

   

Now that spring has come to North Carolina, I’ve been having fun watching the blue-gray gnatcatchers building their nests. They have a counterpart in Costa Rica, called the tropical gnatcatcher (Polioptila plumbea). It seems to be about the same size as our gnatcatcher, with its gray feathers and tendency to move about a lot, but its head reminds me more of a Carolina chickadee. Perhaps this is what a hybrid blue-gray gnatcatcher/Carolina chickadee would look like.

 

The next bright bird to occupy my attention, while my fellow birders peered through their binoculars at other species, was the yellow-crowned euphonia (Euphonia luteicapilla). The adult males have bright yellow and blue plumage; I only saw younger males and a female who seemed to be checking out a nesting cavity.       

 

A scaly-breasted hummingbird (Phaeochroa cuvierii) put in a brief appearance, while several species of swifts were circling overhead.

On our way back to breakfast, I admired the lodge’s stone bird bath and noted they have an invasive plant that we have in North Carolina, too, the Asiatic dayflower (Commelina communis).

 

   

Then I got some photos of a banded peacock (Anartia fatima) and a Cucullina ringlet butterfly (Hermeuptychia cucullina).

 

I was not able to find out the species (yet) for a brown skipper, a white moth and another pretty butterfly.

 

The feeders at the lodge had a black-headed male green honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) visiting along with a lovely male Cherrie’s tanager (Ramphocelus costaricensis) whose red feathers looked like a fringed shawl covering his lower back. The next morning the female honeycreeper came by as well.

  

 

Our first trip of the day involved a visit to the UNA (Universidad Nacional) campus, where I had my first views of a double-toothed kite (Harpagus bidentatus). The stripe underneath its chin, along with its coloring, made it a very attractive bird for me.

 

 

 

   

We then drove to another university campus site, stopping along a road where we saw a white-crowned parrot (Pionus senilis) in the distance.

   

 

Our guide, Steve, had warned us to wear hats as we would be in areas with lots of cicadas, which are called chicharras locally. We had already heard them in the morning – there seemed to be at least hundreds of them in various wooded areas. The 23 Costa Rican species emerge from underground during the breeding season of several bird species that feed on them, such as motmots, trogons and flycatchers. Their cacophony of mating calls was sometimes so loud that you had to speak loudly to other people to be heard over it. But why would we need hats – don’t they just perch in the trees and call?

As I stood on the road, photographing the parrot, I thought we had run into a quick shower – then I realized what the slightly sticky (to me) droplets were – cicada rain!!! The cicadas drink xylem, which is tree sap, and urinate as they process the nutrients– when they do so in large numbers and you are standing underneath them, an umbrella would not be out of place. I tried to photograph the rain to give an idea of the falling pee.

 

 

   

More on Talari Lodge and its surroundings in the next blog!

Costa Rican rambles 3 – Parque Nacional Los Quetzales and Miriam’s restaurant

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Our usual daily trip routine in Costa Rica began on the first day: coffee and tea at 5:45 a.m. (except the last day when we had it at 4:30 a.m.!) – birding – breakfast around 7 a.m. – travel & birding – lunch around noon-1 p.m. – travel and birding – dinner/supper around 7 p.m. And on two nights we went owling after supper. One of our group members tracked our steps – over 8 days, we walked and hiked a bit more than 50 miles. This meant that although I ate more than usual, I didn’t gain any weight, which was an added bonus!

On the first day, we set off for the National Park Los Quetzales, passing small settlements and villages along the way. Between them, we saw the rolling hills and mountains covered with lots of vegetation – this was the end of the dry season, so when the rainy season begins the scenery must be even much more lush.

    

We were going to see several species of birds which are endemic only to parts of Costa Rica and Panama, which was a treat for the birders who keep life lists counting how many species of birds they have seen.

The day had an overcast start, which made photographing the birds at Los Quetzales a bit challenging. Sometimes they blended in really well with the vegetation in which they perched and discerning them was a bit of a feat (especially if you don’t have binoculars). One of the first birds we found was the slaty flowerpiercer (Diglossa plumbea). The male has a rich blue-gray color while the female is a much drabber olive gray – it was her upturned beak that helps her pierce the base of flowers for nectar that helped me ID her in the photos.

  

The black-capped flycatcher (Empidonax atriceps) gave me some issues, too, until one finally alighted atop a plant – giving me a chance for a quick, backlit photo before he flew off.

There were many flowering bushes and shrubs and bees were buzzing among them. A timberline wren hopped around these bushes, but I was unable to get a photo of her. I did succeed in getting some shots of a couple volcano hummingbirds (Selasphorus flammula), who were very active – challenging one another and hunting insects. These very small hummingbirds only breed in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama; they are only 3 inches (7.5 cm cm) long and very quick flyers. One ended up posing for a while!

  

A sooty-capped bush tanager – also called a sooty-capped chlorospingus (Chlorospingus pileatus) was scurrying about the same bushes. At first, I couldn’t get any photos of him, but finally he emerged from behind some leaves. At our lunch stop, I was able to get a close-up photo of this species.

     

A large-footed finch (Pezopetes capitalis) made its arrival known as s/he perched in a nearby tree branch; a few hours later, I was able to get a closer photo of this bird, too. This is one of the larger birds we saw, almost reaching 8 inches (20.3 cm) in length.

 

Another larger bird, the sooty thrush (Turdus nigrescens) posed prettily atop a tree. These 10-inch long (24 cm) birds behave similarly to American robins, rooting around in leaves for insects and spiders.

The flame-throated warbler (Oreothlypis gutturalis) showed up nicely against the green foliage.

 

  

In some flowering bushes nearby, a fiery-throated hummingbird (Panterpe insignis) put in an appearance. These hummers are larger than the small volcano hummingbirds.  Like other hummers, their brilliant colors may only show up when the light rays hit their feathers at just the right angle. My only shot demonstrating a bit of their fiery beauty was unfortunately a bit blurry.

  

A black and yellow silky flycatcher (Phainoptila melanoxantha, below) was hopping around in a distant leafy tree and then finally emerged for a couple minutes before flying off to another leafy abode. In contrast to many of the other birds who dine on insects, these birds favor berries and plant materials. A yellow-winged vireo (Vireo carmioli, right) emerged briefly, rounding out our endemic species sightings.

   

Before leaving the park, I was lucky to see a forest forager (otherwise known as a branch bird) and some lichens growing on the ground. 😉

For lunch, we stopped at Miriam’s restaurant, a well-known birding station in the San Gerardo de Dota area. In addition to a very nice lunch menu, there are nectar and fruit feeders behind the eatery, which attracted a large number of birds when we first visited (a return visit a few days later had very few birds – perhaps they were all busy with nests and insect feeding by then). Besides the rufous-collared sparrows (Zonotrichia capensis), there were gorgeous flame-colored tanagers (Piranga bidentata) – both males and females/immature males.

  

  

A group of five acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) came to enjoy the fruit, perfectly willing to share the space with the other birds. These birds, which are also seen in the Western USA, do eat lots of different nuts but insects and fruit are obviously also desired meals.

 

There were three main species of hummingbirds at the nectar feeders. According to some bird websites, the white-throated mountain gem is only found in Panama, while the very similar gray-tailed mountain gem (Lampornis cinereicauda) is seen in southern Costa Rica. They are beautiful birds, with the females sporting a cinnamon-colored breast and the males a blue-purple crown when the light hits their feathers just right.

  

 

The Talamanca hummingbird males (Eugenes spectabilis) have a brilliant gorget and forehead when the lighting is right. The females of this large hummer species lack this coloring but also have a prominent white spot behind their eyes.

 

My favorite hummingbird at this stop was the lesser violetear (Colibri cyanotus). They have a subtle violet color underneath their eyes and pretty bands of blue in different shades on their tails.

  

Next up – our visit to the Bosque del Tolomuco!

** Thanks to Janet Kurz for the group photo