A varied palate – hummingbirds’ choice of foods

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Maria dB

As promised, one more blog on hummingbirds before I move to another topic; their presence always brings me enjoyment and I know other people who are enamored with these tiny birds, too. Also, although autumn has come, I still have a couple ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) at my feeders. And a couple days ago I had the privilege of seeing a species new to me, the buff-bellied hummingbird (Amazilia yucatanensis), which has only visited the state of North Carolina once before (at least as far as human witnesses are concerned)!

The hummers have a varied diet, including mainly insects (mosquitoes, gnats, fruit flies, small bees), spiders, tree sap and sweet nectar (or sugar water). They tend to feed about 5-10 times per hour during the day and need about 10 calories of nutrition each day.

It is a lot easier to catch them drinking nectar than catching insects (apologies for the blurred photos)!

Hummingbirds use their long tubular tongues as elastic micro-pumps to obtain nectar. This enables them to lick a flower up to 20 times per second as they gather food. And although we can’t see it when just looking at them, they have forked tongues (like snakes)!

The hummers visit a variety of flowers to drink their sweet nectar, often preferring orange or red flowers but certainly not avoiding others.In my garden, this includes cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis), hollyhocks (Alcea), yellow passionflower (Passiflora lutea) and lantana (Lantana).

In nature reserves, I’ve seen them visiting morning glories (Ipomoea), ironweed (Vernonia) and trumpet vines (Campsis radicans).

Their long bills, tubular tongues and slim bodies make it easy for them to drink from long flowers, but sometimes they will simply pierce the base of a flower to obtain nectar, or use a hole already made there by an insect.

Light-colored flowers are not shunned as food sources, however!

Bean plants and gerbera daisies (Gerbera) were on the menu at the Translating Traditions farm.

At my house, the hummers visit the nectar feeders with great regularity, presumably because the food is very easily available there. A little known fact about the hummingbirds is that, compared to all other birds, their brains are the largest in comparison to body size. They remember where feeders are from year to year and also can recognize the people who fill the feeders. When the nectar is low and I appear, a hummer will sometimes hover and chitter in my direction at length; I really do think it is warning me that it’s time to prepare another serving.

The buff-bellied hummingbird breeds in Mexico and south Texas. When they migrate, it is in a north-eastern direction, but the only previous recorded visit of one to North Carolina was in 2007. Now there is one hanging out at a couple’s home in the town of Winston-Salem, so I accompanied three fellow birders to go see it. Our 90-minute drive there was rewarded by a view of the bird within about 15 minutes and we stayed for almost two hours watching it come and go along with some ruby-throated hummingbirds.

These hummingbirds have bellies with a light orange-yellow hue, brighter orange tail feathers and a bright green back and head. In contrast to the ruby-throated hummingbird’s straight dark bill, they have a reddish, curved bill. These lovely little birds appear to be the least studied species among the hummingbirds in the USA.

Two years ago, I had a rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) visit my nectar feeder after he had migrated here in winter from the far North. This year, I’ll leave at least one feeder up again after the ruby-throats take off for warmer climes in case some wintering hummers need food. And I’ll look forward to seeing my regular residents again next summer!

More information:

http://www.livescience.com/51904-hummingbird-tongue-pump.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/science/the-hummingbirds-tongue-how-it-works.html?_r=0

Birdie beauty – hummingbird preening and grooming

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Maria dB

It has been great to welcome back the sun and dispel some of the gloom resulting from the record number of rainy days we’ve had. Watching the ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) in my yard and at nature reserves is also a day brightener and has taught me that these tiny avians are quite fastidious, grooming often and at length.

They cannot use their feet to hop or walk; they only cling to perches and shuffle a bit.

They do use their claws as a “comb” to groom their heads and necks and to scratch itches.

Using oil from a gland near their tail, they cover their iridescent feathers with the oil to help clean them.

When you see them rubbing their long beaks on a twig, they are wiping off debris and pollen.

The youngest birds have a groove in their beak but this smooths out by the winter.

When the hummers look up in the sky, while sitting all puffed up on a branch, they may be taking a sun bath.

A tiny catnap – or hummer nap – can also be observed now and then. This is understandable since their little hearts beat at 1220 times per minute while they fly; this lessens to about 250 times per minute when they are at rest.

You can sometimes tell the sex of the hummingbird by its tail feathers. The tips are white and rounded in both females and first-year males, who do not yet have fully colored throats

.
ruby-throated hummingbird DK7A2031© Maria de Bruyn

In the adult males, the tail feathers have sharp black points.

The red gorget (throat) feathers that give this species its common name are seen in the adult males. Very occasionally, a female will have one or two black or one red feather there, but it is generally a young male that has one red throat feather.

After nesting, females may look somewhat tattered and molt their feathers, like this one in July. The regular molting period is autumn through about March and that is when the juvenile males develop their their red throats.

Both female and male ruby-throated hummers have a small patch of white feathers behind their dark eyes.

One thing is for sure – all these little avians are beautiful to see and watch!

More information:

http://www.hummingbirdworld.com/h/behavior.htm

Hummers haranguing – feistiness in small packages!

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Maria dB

At times, we may see on Facebook or the Internet a photo or video of hummingbird nectar feeders surrounded by at least 6 and sometimes dozens of these small birds, sharing space as they take turns at imbibing some of the sweet water. Here in my part of North Carolina, however, it seems that the ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) are just NOT interested in having their territory host family members or neighbors. This species is known for being territorial and those in my vicinity live up to that reputation for sure.

Both at home and in nature reserves, I’ve watched these tiny birds stake out a claim to a feeder or some choice blooms. They drink a little and then will take up a post on a vantage point where they can keep an eye out for other birds. Occasionally, the waiting spot is out in the open and often it is in a nearby shrub or tree.

When they spot a rival approaching the food source, they may either immediately give chase or first engage in a threat display.

Their displays include both posturing and sound. To warn off other birds, they may chirp both quickly and loudly. Their threat postures aim to frighten away intruders by displaying size and strength and include pointing their long bills at the other bird(s), puffing up their throats, spreading and raising their wings, and flaring their tail feathers, .

They don’t really use their bills to battle as they need to protect this body part but they can fly into each other. On one occasion, in my front yard, I heard a loud thump when the two birds actually collided during a high-speed chase.

The drive to protect territory is not for lack of food. My yard has three nectar feeders out back and one in the front and three of them have at least four feeding holes. This year, a brightly colored male laid claim to the yard while the female was caring for her brood. When the female and young birds began coming to the feeders, “Red” was not pleased. Later, the young males also vied with one another.

Chittering loudly, they sweep in to make the other birds take off; occasionally they do get a chance to have a short drink before another hummer shows up. At my house, the birds can feed because they have to patrol both the front and back yards and can’t be in two places at once.

I witnessed a similar scenario at the Mason Farm Biological Reserve. There was a spot with plenty of blooming trumpet vines (Campsis radicans) and morning glories (Ipomoea pandurata), which were attracting a variety of pollinators. Three hummingbirds were also visiting and, again, chasing one another from the site as soon as they caught sight of their rivals.

In an area near the Haw River where many wildflowers bloom, a similar scenario took place.

This is the time of year when the ruby-throated hummingbirds undertake their migration to Central America, a distance of at least 1000 miles. They need to store energy for this and may double their body mass while feeding during the preparatory phase. However, it seems to me that chasing away other birds from their preferred feeding sites must take an enormous amount of energy and it seems to be an endless activity. In my yard, it goes on all day long!

These birds’ flight muscles take up 25% of their weight; when they rest, their hearts beat at a rate of 250 beats per minute but during flight, their hearts speed up to 1220, so the zipping back and forth and up and down in hot pursuits must use lots of calories and energy. They also may hover mid-air for a while rather than sitting on an outpost twig; the other day, one of Red’s rivals spent a quarter minute suspended about 18 inches from my face, looking me over until Red dive-bombed him.

This summer I’ve been lucky to see the hummers in several places, including Sandy Creek Park, near the Haw River and a farm cultivated by refugees from Myanmar. In all cases, the birds appeared unwilling to share their dining areas. Once in a while, though, one would have the space to him- or herself for a while and I could watch them feed, afterwards flicking out their long tongues.

When they return next year, I hope to learn more about these wonderful little birds through daily observation in my garden habitat.

More interesting information on ruby-throated hummingbirds can be found here:

http://www.rubythroat.org/rthufactsmain.html

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ruby-throated_hummingbird/lifehistory

http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/behavior.php

Growing up to be a redhead

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Maria dB

In the past month or so, I’ve been seeing red-headed woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) almost everywhere I go — except my own neighborhood! Jordan Lake’s woods in two different areas and various sections of the Mason Farm Biological Reserve have all provided me with multiple spottings of, and concerts by, these lovely birds.

I’m not very good at recognizing birds by their calls. Having listened to loud rock music as a teenager left me with some hearing problems. But the red-heads have a loud, unique, warbling territorial call that they emit frequently, regardless of whether another of their species is close by or not. I’ve become quite good at recognizing that call!

The juveniles begin life looking quite different from their parents. They have mostly gray-brown heads and backs and the part of their feathers that will later be entirely white are marked by black splotches and dots.

Like their parents, they show a variety of prey-hunting and food-gathering behaviors. You will hear them pecking at trees in their quest for insects but they also look for insects on the ground and can catch them during flight in mid-air.

They also eat fruit, seeds and nuts like acorns and beechnuts, with plant materials making up about two-thirds of their diet. They will store food in caches so that they can find it again later during times of more nutritional scarcity. And in places far apart, they appear to be good at finding the same orangey cubes that are not nuts but some other, obviously delicious, substance.

Their food storage habits help birders find them more easily. Both at Jordan Lake and Mason Farm, I’ve discovered a couple trees where certain birds have their food stash and if I wait long enough, a red-head is more than likely going to appear.

Unfortunately, due to habitat loss and changes to its usual food supply, this species has declined considerably in numbers. That is why it is so nice to see the juveniles among these various groups.

As they age, the brown feathers begin giving way to red ones, first around the nape and back of the neck. The black markings on the tail feathers begin to fade as well as they grow older.

When they reach maturity, the birds have brilliant red heads, glossy black and pure white flight and tail feathers.

As these birds need dead trees for their nesting and storage cavities, it’s great that our area has some preserved forests where they currently appear to be thriving. And I can continue going out in the hopes of one descending from treetops to a lower and nearer perch so that I can finally get the stunning shots I’ve been wishing for!

Danger on the beach!

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Maria dB

great black-backed gull IMG_4207© Maria de Bruyn res During a recent visit to Topsail Island, one of my favorite get-away sites, the various gulls, terns and other birds were very busy: resting, eating and investigating beach debris such as twigs, like this great black-backed gull (Larus marinus).

When I looked through my zoom lens and saw two juveniles of the species picking up and dropping items into the sand, I decided to photograph them. Given some deterioration in my eyesight, even through the zoom lens, I thought one of them was examining a large black twig so I shot away. Imagine my surprise when I downloaded the photos to my computer and enlarged them to see what the gull was actually carrying around!

Most of the time, s/he appeared to be grasping the knife by the blade rather than the handle end, which totally amazed me.

The bird would drop the paring knife and then pick it up again.

One time it was by the handle.

I wish I had realized what the gull was doing when I was there so that I could have picked up the utensil but at the time, I was convinced it was a twig and after shooting the series, I turned to other birds.

I posted the photo on a Facebook birding group page with the remark that: “Beach-goers and fishermen need to pay a lot more attention to what they leave behind onshore!” The responses that came were interesting:

– wow…scary the things people leave behind
– I hope he dropped it when he realized how sharp it was!
– Smelled like fish most likely….
– Sometimes they ‘steal’ from us while our backs are turned on a fishing pier!
– Maybe he’s in a gang?
– Considering it’s Topsail, more likely one of Blackbeard’s crew. Nice image of the gull.

And then one person apparently doubted that the photo I had posted was real: “The size of the gull and the size of the knife looks fishy. The knife is only a bit longer than the beak. That must be one big gull. It’s all in the perspective, I guess.” Since I don’t own Photoshop or some other program with which I can combine photos or insert things into photos, I can assure you that the series shows what happened.

While the respondent who mentioned birds stealing items from people is stating a fact, this site was at the end of the island very far from any piers. So I can only assume that some careless human left the knife behind on the beach (like the cell phone cover and plastic that I collected for the garbage that day).

It is well known that the trash on beaches often ends up in the sea, harming animals that ingest it and contributing to large floating garbage piles.On 20 September 2014, the Ocean Conservancy is sponsoring the International Coastal Cleanup — the world’s largest volunteer effort to clean up waterways and the ocean. I don’t live near an ocean but will pick up trash near a large lake in my area. And I urge you all to participate in some way if you can! It may be a drop in the ocean/waterways bucket but the drops add up!

	Maria dB on These birds stole my hear…
	Phyllis Orner on These birds stole my hear…
	Mockingbird Mysterie… on The Northern mockingbird bound…
	14 Hummingbird Behav… on Birdie beauty – hummingbird pr…
	Nature in stressful… on More otter fun — for the mamma…

My beautiful world

Observations about the wondrous world of wildlife

Tag Archives: juvenile

A varied palate – hummingbirds’ choice of foods

Birdie beauty – hummingbird preening and grooming

Hummers haranguing – feistiness in small packages!

Growing up to be a redhead

Danger on the beach!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: