Which reminds me, I had a frenetic female broad-tail yesterday, harassing two black-capped chickadees up in a Russian olive beside my house--one of which then flew down into a low aspen just a few feet from me. The hummer then swooped in and started a fast-paced lateral sweep pattern in an arc maybe 8" wide, briefly hovering at each end of the sideways pendulum, repeating this 8 or more times, inches in front of the chickadee's face. The poor chickadee seemed about as puzzled as I was, and as soon as the hummer ceased, it flew up into a nearby oak.
The hummer then proceeded to "post guard" over the swaying grass heads in the yard, hovering over one grass head, then zipping over to another, and so on... for at least four minutes. It wasted who knows how many calories in these efforts, never once going near any flowers for refueling... Then it zipped off out of sight. Maybe a juvenile pumped up on too much sugar, & over-excited about its journey?? (arewethereyet? arewethereyet?) I've seen hummers hyped up during the breeding season, or at feeders, & directing it at just about anything moving, but not usually at this time of year, with no feeder around--just a calm, plump little chickadee... Happy Trails. Marty Wolf On Sep 11, 2011, at 6:58 PM, Paula Hansley <[email protected]> wrote: > A young male Rufous Hummingbird was (Sunday, 7:40-7:50 pm) sitting in my > Washington Hawthorne tree preening after flying back and forth through my > sprinkler!! He is the first Rufous I have seen here this summer. Another > hummer also flew through the water spray, but I did not get an id. > > Paula Hansley > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
