Sunday, April 19, 2015

Highlight on Rufous

Last blog spotlighted our visiting Hooded Orioles that are currently putting on quite a show. This afternoon, while bird watching from the backyard, I saw two adult male Rufous hummingbirds - a first for me! I got a few photos showing off their brown plumage.

A nice profile showing lots of brown.
Not super obvious, but both males show here along with another hummer.
 Good shot of the tail fanned out with back lighting and a hint of the red gorget.


 Male rufous and unknown female.
 Here is a cranky old guy, an older Blackchinned male. Most of the time he is on guard near HIS feeder and will chase off all who dare try to snatch some of his food! For an old guy, he uses up a lot of energy chasing the younger hummers that get too close.
 This shows him on the right, one of the two spots he guards from. At this moment, he is allowing a couple other birds to snack on HIS stuff!

 A young male and maybe a young female from this year's visiting orioles. They have been chattering and beeping up a storm lately and chasing each other around.

2 comments:

  1. That full fan shot of the rufous is special. Usually, what I see is the half fan as pictured in "Male rufous and unknown female". The few times I have seen a full fan, are when one male is putting on an aggressive display just before chasing off another male and the full fan only flashes for a split-second. Come to think of it, he was probably getting ready to chase away the other hummer at that feeder.

    Orioles beep? I will have to take a wander over to allaboutbirds.org and have a listen.

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    Replies
    1. I am sure you have heard R2D2, it can sound a lot like that when they get going! I have tried to record it to post - that's difficult ;-)

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