Observations by marric1

We last saw our little rufous hummingbird early in the morning on April 12, so we think he must have headed off on his migration. By April 12, his gorget had gotten quite full and bright orange. It’s amazing how the feathers filled in so quickly and changed from day to day. We had a rufous hummer with us last year until April 10, so this little guy stayed a few days past that.
The attached picture was taken on April 7. It’s not a great photo, but you can see the redbud trees blooming in the background, so in addition to the feeders we had up, he also had native trees to feed on. It was rainy the day I took this, and he found shelter on a bracket just outside our kitchen window, where he could get out of the rain.

Our little rufous hummingbird is still with us (he’s been here since August 24, 2013). His gorget feathers are beginning to turn bright orange, as you can see in the attached picture. We also had a rufous hummer with us last year, and he stayed until April 10, so we expect this little guy to be leaving pretty soon.

Despite the warm weather we are having this week (high a bit above 80 today) our little rufous hummingbird (who has been with us since August 24, 2013) has not left on his migration yet. However, he’s not visiting the feeders quite as much, so I think he’s finding lots of bugs to feed on, along with natural sources of nectar. Our redbud trees are in full bloom now, and I understand that they are good hummer plants. When I was outside doing some weeding, I could hear him buzzing around overhead. The rufous hummers make a very distinct buzzing sound when they fly, and it’s quite different from the sound the rubythroats make.

The picture I’ve attached was taken on March 25.

This little guy has now been with us for 7 months!!! We first saw him on August 24, 2013. As I noted in an earlier post, we thought that he had left on his migration when we stopped seeing him for two weeks, but then he showed back up again. Recently, he’s been visiting our feeder each evening before dark and again first thing in the morning, so he seems to be spending the nights in our yard. However, we're not seeing him much during the day, so I think he is gallivanting about during the daylight hours. The picture I’ve attached was taken on August 27, 2013.

This adult male rufous hummingbird has been in our yard since August 24, 2013. He was banded by a licensed hummingbird bander on August 26 (band number J00354). We’ve enjoyed having him with us for so many months and will be interested to see how much longer he stays around. The picture is from his banding.

UPDATE on March 10: March 2, 2014, was the last day that we saw this little fellow, so we assume that is when he started his journey to his breeding grounds. He was with us for 6 months plus 1 week.

UPDATE for March 17: He’s back! After being gone a full 2 weeks, the little guy returned on March 17. We know it is the same bird because of a very distinguishing feature. I don’t think I mentioned this in any of my posts, but when the bander caught him back in late August, she found that he only has one leg! She could not feel any scarring or stump where a leg would have been, so she thinks it’s a congenital condition. And he seems to be fine and act just like any other hummer. Anyway, when I saw the bird on March 17, I was close enough to see that he only had the one leg, so I’m sure it was the same bird that was with us since August. I called the bander to let her know that he was still around. She said that she had heard of similar circumstances where a rufous will disappear for a week or so then turn back up at the feeder. She said that with the longer daylight hours, warming temperatures, and more natural food sources that the hummers are feeling wanderlust and may change behavior patterns. Also, more folks in our neighborhood may have feeders up waiting for the rubythroats.

This adult male rufous hummingbird has been in our yard since August 24, 2013. He was banded by a licensed hummingbird bander on August 26. Despite low degrees and recent snow, he’s doing well. When the temperature gets really low, we keep the feeder thawed by shining an outdoor floodlight on it. I’m including a picture of the bird feeding.