8 months ago

Live - Hummingbirds on Cougar Ridge Ranch

Cougar Ridge Ranch is the summer breeding ground
for 4 species of hummingbirds (listed below).

Typically we have hundreds if not thousands of birds through the summer.
We usually have to fill our 12 - 80oz feeders and 8 smaller feeders every day with 4-5 gallons of sugar water. Yes we typically go through 12-18 25lb bags of white sugar every summer just feeding hummingbirds.

This year in late may the hummingbirds were here in record numbers, they were like a hive of bees swarming the feeders but then we had 5 nights that fell below 20 degrees F and all of a sudden, after the 2nd night we began to notice fewer and fewer birds.
We found little dead hummingbirds all over the ground under trees and after the 5th night we only had as many as 10 birds feeding.
All of our neighbors for miles around noticed the drop off in bird numbers.
It was such a loss that we took down all but 3 of our big feeders.

As the summer goes on, about the first to middle of July & August we should see the numbers increase as the baby birds fledge and leave the nests.
Notice that all of the territorial males will leave the young hummingbirds alone on the feeders. They seem to sense the clumsy flying and perching skills.
You'll also notice that they're much smaller than the adults for the first couple of weeks.

About Mid August we will also see the population explode as the hummingbirds from much farther north begin arriving, already on their migration.
They'll hang out and sip the swagga and rest up for their next leg south.

Usually about Labor Day 99% of the hummingbirds will leave and start their migration south. It's an all at once event and it happens just after dawn.
If you're lucky enough to see it, it looks like a flock of tiny blackbirds leaving.
There are stragglers that stay behind, some even until mid October, usually females with late hatches and small chicks. We seldom see any males after the mass exodus and then the area around the feeders is calm and plesant with no males fighting. Just females and juveniles.
We've had them hang around until the temps are getting close to freezing at night and then POOF! They're gone all at once too.

They head south to Arizona, California and Mexico for the winter and the males will arrive again in April and the females will arrive in May.

HUMMINGBIRDS ON THE RANCH
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BLACK CHINNED [Archilochus alexandri] (most prevalent here)
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A medium sized bird about 4" in lenght
Males have a velvety black throat with a thin, iridescent purple gorget (throat) Females have a pale throat
Both have dull metallic green on their flanks with dull metalic green above and dull grayish-white below.
Males are extremely territorial and court females by swooping down from 65 to 100 feet then powering back up.
When other males (or females) encroach in their territory they will dart side to side 3-4 feet making as much noise with their wings as possible.
They will chase other hummingbirds even making contact collisions to make their point.

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BROAD TAIL [Selasphorus platycercus](looks like Ruby Throated)
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The broad-tailed hummingbird is a medium sized bird about 4" in length. It is one of the seven species of Selasphorus including the Rufous and Calliope.
Males have a ruby gorget (throat) and both male and female have iridescent green backs and crowns with white breasts.

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RUFOUS [Selasphorus rufus] (very dominant RED birds)
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The rufous hummingbird is a small bird about 8cm (3") long. They weight 2-5grams. They have a long slender and very straight bill.
They are one of the feistiest of all of the hummingbirds, probably because they arrive late in the territorial season and need to be dominant to get a place.
Males have an iridescent rugous (very rusty red) face, back, flanks and tail with a white breast. Some rufous males have an iridescent green back and/or crown.
Females have green backs and upper parts with some white showing. They have white breasts and some iridescent red/orange feathers on their throat. They have a dark tail with wihte tips and a red fufous base.
They are incredible distance fliers known for flying 2,000 miles during migration.
They usually arrive a few weeks late to their summer breeding grounds but with their feisty attitudes quickly take over feed sources.
They are very territorial and willing to fight any bird making airborne contact that is on a feed source that they claim.

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CALLIOPE [Selasphorus calliope] (the second smallest of all of the hummingbirds)
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Males have white and bright red wine collored vertical striped throats
Females have light dotted throat stripes

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