Hummingbird migration

Migration is in full swing. Here's a handsome Allen's Hummingbird at our feeders in Alpine.

Adult male Allen's

Banding Leucistic hummer

Kelly Bryan, a licensed bander, banded the leucistic female Black-chinned (see August 3 posting). He figures it's less than a month out of the nest.

Albino (leucistic) hummingbird today

It's apparently a female Black-chinned Hummingbird. 

Here her dark roots are showing.

This last shot is included just for size comparison with a normal female Black-chinned.

Pre-oasis photo

I came across this photo while looking for something else. This was the oasis's humble origin. Photo taken about 30 years ago, and yes, that's me. The only thing recognizable is the mountain in the background. If I took a photo today from the exact spot this one was taken  you wouldn't be able to see the mountain for the trees.

Here is a photo looking in the same direction as my original garden, only taken from farther away. This photo taken in May of this year.

Injured hummer in Alpine

There's a pathetic female Black-chinned Hummingbird with a damaged bill at my feeders in Alpine. It acts normal, and I see it has been banded, probably a few months ago, but I don't have high expectations for it survival. I'm hoping to have a licensed bander trap it tomorrow and see if the bill is fixable.

Rain and no mosquitos

It doesn't get much better than that. There shouldn't be any more mosquitos until the first big rain next spring or summer. The gambusias are numerous enough now to keep them in check.

There aren't many birds right now and no migrant hummers yet, so I had to content myself with photographing the same old birds. I know you're tired of looking at Lucifer photos. This one is probably a juvenile male without any gorget feathers yet.

The next one is the same individual that I posted July 17 when he had one gorget feather. Now he has two. The second feather is in the center of his throat. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo showing both feathers at the same time.

Juvenile Lucifer Hummingbird

Early this morning I photographed this feisty juvenile male Lucifer Hummingbird that we banded several days ago. He seems proud of his one gorget feather as well as his one adult tail feather. (Same side) I hope he survives and returns here next year to be captured and remeasured for comparisons. He's very aggressive at the feeders which is unusual for a Lucifer. Tomorrow we leave for a week in Colorado. I'm going to miss my hummers and oasis.

Oasis is lush today

With plenty of rain and cool temperatures things are thriving. The mosquitos had been real bad but they finally lessened enough to where I enjoyed an afternoon manicuring, watering, and pruning some to keep the pathways usable. The tanks are all full and if I don't use the water the next rain will just go down the arroyo. Besides, in the past week I've only had .4" and I like to give them more like the equivalent of one inch per week. The first photo is of a Texas Madrone with a water feature behind taken from the viewing bench. The horsetails have escaped their containers so this winter I should clean out the pond. I'll be surprised if I actually do, though.

The photo below is what I call the wildlife pond. That's where I had the Sora in May.

Next is the hummingbird viewing area.

Next is path leading to the water feature's viewing bench.

And here is an example of a path that is threatening to become overgrown. This image was taken after I trimmed a bunch along it. There's never an end to the work to keep the oasis a managed natural habitat, but I love the work.

Lucifer Hummingbird nest

For quite some time I've been determined to find a Lucifer Hummingbird nest. After extensive research and fruitless searching, I concluded they must be nesting in Cholla near the top of the talus slope on the mountain above my oasis. Sunday I climbed to one area and found nothing. Today 3 of us climbed a more promising area where my sister had found a hummingbird nesting in a Cholla in early April of 2007. She didn't know what kind of hummer it was and a picture of it wasn't good enough to be certain. However, I've never heard of a Black-chinned (the only other option) nesting in a Cholla, and that's one of Lucifer's favorite places to nest. The climb is arduous, to say the least. We eventually found 2 nests in Chollas, but neither was in use. One was unfinished and old, perhaps early spring, and had an abandoned egg in it. The other appeared to have already fledged its nestlings. This is the old one with the egg. Click on photos to enlarge.

This one looked more recent but appeared stretched from having been full of nestlings. I think I see cotton inside from the supply I put out for birds to use. I even posted photos of a Lucifer collecting some of that cotton (see May 28).

Hummingbirds galore

I've got the most hummers I've ever had in June. About half are Black-chinneds and half are Lucifers. There must be at least thirty. Female Lucifer pictured below.