I’m glad you’re fine with getting Hummers. 80% of my hummingbird plants are in pots so I restart every year. They love both the black and blue and purple salvia and the vermilionaire. They like the Pentstemon to once it starts to bloom. Like you, I mostly have one male and one female brought two coming to the feeder and flowers. I’m so happy to have them!
Deb Carstensen, Arapahoe county Sent from my iPhone > On Jun 5, 2022, at 12:09 PM, Jared Del Rosso <[email protected]> wrote: > > It took me six years, but through a mix of intentional plantings and > self-seedings of native wildflowers, I've had daily -- almost day long -- > visits from at least one male and at least one female Broad-tailed > Hummingbird in my Centennial yard (approx. 5,800 feet). While this > "achievement," if we can call it that, won't surprise anyone, owing to the > commonness of Broad-tails and the ease of attracting them with sugar-water, > it's quite exciting for me. I don't think that they're nesting in my yard; > the visits seem more for food and the two eventually fly off. I quite like > hearing the male's trill. Now and then, he must chase off another male -- > because the sound gets much more intense than when he's displaying otherwise. > > A few observations... > I've noticed the female Broad-tailed Hummingbird on the ground on a few > occasions. > Once, she seemed to be foraging in damp, exposed soil in a neighbor's yard. > (I was gardening and didn't have my binoculars.) I thought she might have > been collecting nesting material, but after she finished on the ground, she > perched in an apple tree and preened. > Today, after feeding on Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii), she > responded to the male's territorial dive by dropping to the stones around my > fire pit. He flitted around and toward her -- low -- and she seemed to > flutter her wings a bit. I think this may be the "whisking display" of the > male, which is described in Birds of the World as part of the bonding of the > pair. I'd not observed it previously. > > Currently, Penstemon eatonii is the main food source for the two. I don't > remember when I first planted one -- or how (by seed or from a > nursery-purchased plant). But it must have been 2016 or 2017. I've learned, > though, that one plant labeled for hummingbirds does not make a territory and > visits to my yard when there were only a few of this species were irregular > at best. The first of this penstemon has reseeded freely, and I've also > intentionally planted several more from seed from my yard. There must be a > dozen, maybe nearly 20, of these plants currently blooming. This flower seems > to bloom in my yard just in time for the last snowfall of the year. Its > rather horizontal right now, owing to the wet snow we got at the end of May. > Its blooms are nearly spent and its many seed pods are forming. > > I've also seen the Broad-tails visit Penstemon whippleanus, which has a > wonderful, dark purple flower. It's native to higher elevations in CO, but is > doing well so far in my yard. I started them from seed last year. This is the > first year they've bloomed. The timing of their bloom seems similar to > Penstemon eatonii (mid-to-late May) -- but I think this is quite a bit > earlier than they bloom at higher elevations. Seed can be obtained from > Western Native Seeds (https://westernnativeseed.com/). > > Today, I saw one of the Broad-tails (I've already forgotten which, apologies) > visit a Mountain Harebell bloom (Campanula rotundifolia), which began > blooming last week. > > Penstemon barbatus (aka Scarlet Bugler or Beardlip Penstemon) is just > beginning to bloom. Like Firecracker Penstemon, this penstemon has red > flowers, though I prefer this penstemon's more open structure to > Firecracker's. I believe there are only three flowering plants of this in my > yard, so I don't know if it'll be enough to maintain the Broad-tailed pairs > commitment to it. However, more harebell blooms should be forthcoming and > there are other penstemon species that may begin blooming soon. > > - Jared Del Rosso > Centennial, CO > > > -- > -- > 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] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en > * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include > bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate > * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/4a854c9a-75dc-4987-9466-3c06ef42bbben%40googlegroups.com. -- -- 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] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/B047BC07-2B47-4A86-A7A0-608E26705A4E%40aol.com.
