Birds are cooler than you... (Part II... with photos)

MoJo and the Ultra-rare Hummingbird

(lazy bastards can scroll down to check out the photos)​

***Foreword***

Some of you may know that I am an avid nature lover and birder. I've loved nature for ever, but didn't focus primarily on birds until the middle of Feb. '08. I took an Ealgle Viewing Cruise up the CT River and form then on I was hooked.


That day I began compiling my Life List. As of that day, I had seen plently of birds that I could identify..... but I started from scratch, and waited until I physically saw or undeniably heard the species before I could record it on the list. After the day of the Eagle Cruise, my life list sat at 7 (Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Great Cormorant, Common Merganser, Mallard, Osprey, and Red-tailed Hawk). As of today, 11/25/08, it sits at 225 species seen in 13 states, 4 provinces and 3 countries.





Not to be a jerk or conceided, but that is a very good number to reach for a beginner birder, in North America, in only 9 months. I could probably go spend a month in Bolivia and get that number up into the 5-600's.


However, I am in tune with nature and I know when, where, and how to look for birds. I've used this comparrison to explain to a few females.... When you want a new sweater, you don't drive down the main road and stop at every single store until you find the one you are looking for. You know before hand the most likely place to find the sweater... same with birds. Those who know when, where, and how to find birds will be 10x more successful in doing so.


Having said that, there is a point that every birder eventually gets to.... when they have seen everything they are going to see using luck(for the most part... luck never leaves the birding equation). Once this happens, the birder begins to network with other local/state birders and he can then find out where the rare birds are.... or where the best hot spots are. Which reeeally helps out A LOT!! Especially when you are also a photographer of birds and are trying to find out where to go to get a sure fire photo. Often times, when a rare or saught-after species shows itself, you are not ready.... camera not out, not enough time to catch the fly-by... whatever.

I have reached this stage... I am at a point where I can identify preety much anything that will come or fly over my yard. There are, of course, exceptions. Because I obviously have not seen every single bird species possible for my area, or North America. For example, winter Ducks and other Shorebirds.... when I started birding, it was winter, closing in on spring. And a shit-ton of birds are migratory.... so since I was a beginner, I was only looking in my immediate area. I got a lot of birds, but eventually many had migrated. During the beginning I focused mainly on the woods and landbirds.

So the spring and summer came, bringing with it entirely new species and a rapid growth to my life list. Now, as the winter arrives, many of the birds I first identified are coming back, in addition to the many I missed during my beginning.

(that was just some background info...)


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So now that I am not a beginner any longer, I have been traveling to see rare birds. Usually I stay in-state, but I have driven to Rhode Island, Mass., and New Jersey to see one individual bird.

Most recently I drove about 45 minutes, in-state, to see a very rare goose for CT called the Barnacle Goose.... and yesterday I drove 1hour and 15 minutes in-state to see a hummingbird that has only been recorded in the state of CT twice before this one.

The Barnacle Goose is quite a find.... although it has been recoreded here before. CT sits on a very popular migration route know as 'The Atlantic Fly-way'.... so besides many migrants that do not winter or nest/breed in the state, there is often the very rare species seen. Whether very strong cross winds pushed the bird off it's path, or someone released it in the wrong place, or who knows.... somehow, they get here.


As was the case with the hummingbird. It is called the Calliope Hummingbird (pronounced, 'cal-eee-O-pay') and it's summer range does not extend any further west than Rockies. And the tip of it's winter range is further into Mexico than the southern most tip of Texas. So as of right now, the bird should be in southwestern Mexico. Outside of it's normal range, the bird has been recorded most often in Gulf Coast states like LA, TX and FL. I could be wrong, but I think the combined total of confirmed sightings along the east coast and New England is like less than 10. In the history of people recording birds in states. One of which was a capture to band and release in Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven, CT... about 45-50 minutes away from where this one was.


The Calliope Hummingbird is not only the smallest species of our smallest type of bird, it is the smallest bird in all of North America. Reaching only 3.25" when full grown... with a maximum wingspan of 4.25". Several dragon-flies that whip through yards are bigger than this bird.

No one can know for sure why it is currently in CT. Or why it is still this far north, for that matter. It's relatives are sitting in 80+ degree sunny weather everyday. Over the weekend the temp dropped to 15 degrees F with a -2 degree windchill. Temperatures like that can easily kill this bird....... but somehow, it has found a place to sleep and keep warm over night.

The bird is living in a residential neighborhood in some random person's backyard. The homeowner puts out the Hummingbird feeder every moring at sunrise, and takes it in an hour or so after dark. The bird first arrived, around October 11th. Not late for Hummers, since they are still migrating south. My latest hit at my Hummingbird feeders was October 19th. But nothing since then and I took my feeders down 3 weeks ago. At first, the homeowners didn't know how rare of a bird they had living in their yard. It took them until about 2 weeks ago to ID it. When they did, a massive influx of birders from CT and all surrounding states made their way to north/central CT. Us birders are lucky that the homeowners were so cool about letting birders come and check it out. The bird hung out around their back porch.... eventually the homeowners had to put up a sign that let people know that only 8-10 people were allowed on their deck at any given time.



Like I said, now one can know for sure why this bird is in CT so late. Very strong winds must have blown him across the Great Lakes and over here. One of the many cool things about birds is their migration habits and instincts.

This individual Calliope is a juvenile male. He was born this year somewhere in the US northwest/west. His relatives and ancestors have been making their journey south for thousands of years. Juveniles have no clue why they are leaving... they just realize that their parents are leaving and they instinctively go with them. Once they are down south, they all instinctively fly north... because everyone else does and that is what they know.... consciencely and sub-consciencely. Even the parents who made this little guy.... they only know that once their babies are grown, everyone heads south. They don't know why... they just do it.

So this bird may think he flew to the right place. This was his first migration. The length of the trip from say, The Rockies to Hartford, CT is probably pretty close to the length of the trip from The Rockies to Northern Mexico. It probably flew for so long, that the instinctual aspect makes him believe he has migrated to where everyone else does. He hasn't made the trip south yet, so he doesn't know. The winds that brought him here could have been it's doom. It may not know to continue south when it gets colder or the amount of light per day becomes shorter. He may die in the cold.... or try and migrate south and wind up lost in the Gulf of Mexico.





Besides all the migration talk, this bird is amazing. Well, all Hummingbirds are amazing.... flapping their wings 100x+ per second... flying forward, backwards, left, right, up, down.... hover. Amazing. This individual happens to have a very gregarious additude. It has lived in this yard for about 6 weeks.... long enough for it to become used to everything. He is used to where his food is and where he sleeps at night. He is used to his area, and is actually used to humans (and their zoom lenses and scopes).

Since he has established his territory, he started to defend it. By the time I got there, yesterday, he was fully into the territory thing. About 6-8' feet from where his feeder is, hangs another regular bird feeder. It is an open one that has a flat bottom for birds to land and eat, and all 4 sides are open for birds to fly through... with a roof on the top. Basically a bird house with no walls.

Chickadees and Titmice landed there often.... but when the HUmmingbird was around, he would dive bomb the birds and scare them off. Something I had never seen a Hummingbird do before. He has quite the advantage... he would fly ultra-fast at the chickadees and whip through the house feeder, but the chickadees would try and outsmart him by immediately pulling a 180 and going back. Very quickly the Hummingbird realized this and would just hover and wait for it to come back.

In addition.... one day the homeowner put out the feeder and hour or so later than normal, and the Calliope dove at the woman's head. Just to let here know not to be late with his lifelife again. WHich is exactly what it is.... his lifeline. If that feeder was not there, the chances of him dying are very good. Most people have already taken down their Hummingbird feeders..... and all their natural growing food sources are dead until spring and summer. If he hadn't found this yard, who knows. Awesome stuff.




Here are a few of the photos I took of it while I was there:






(Juvenile Male Calliope Hummingbird. Photos taken 11/24/08)

 

The best times to go birding, in any state, are during the Spring and Fall migrations. During these times, birds that do not summer/nest/breed or over-winter in certain areas can be seen as the travel to and from their breeding and winter ranges.

States along the Mexican border are often the best for these times.... as well as states that sit on popular migration routes (California, Florida-Maine.... and believe it or not, North Dakota is awesome for migrations).

For the most part, birds traveling through your area are Neotropical migrants.... meaning they migrate in and out of the tropics. Warblers, sparrows, hummingbirds, tanagers and other songbirds are often the most saught after during these times because rarities can occur on a daily basis in some hot spots. Especially in states that 'funnel' birds from South and Central America into the US. Other migrants are shorebirds (not so much in the inland and drier states like NM, my home state of CT is great for shorebird migrations), gulls, raptors (mostly hawks, falcons and kites) and ducks.


During the fall, although many species of birds are in their duller plumage because most aren't breeding, tons of birds that live in the Arctic, the tundra, and basically all over Canada/AK and Greenland migrate south to the US. Many get as far south as the US/Mexican border..... however most stay somewhat north (the termination line for most is Cape May, NJ or the southern tip of New England... and then a line going across country near the southern border of South Dakota and straight across through California.)


You definately live in a good area for bird migrations. Especially the Spring. During the Spring, most birds are molting back into their breeding plumage.... making them 10x more attractive to the human eye during the Spring. They gain bright colors in the Spring as opposed to the Fall because of their habitats..... during the Spring and Summer, their habitats are full of colors... flowers/bushes/trees/etc. Their bright plumages not only attract the attention of a possible mate, but they assist in camoflauge and hiding themselves from predetors. Which is why, during the gray and drabv Fall/winter, they go back to their Fall/non-breeding plumage.... which blends in witrh their surroundings. Unless they go far enough south where flowers are all year round.

It's pretty amazing to see a bird in the Spring... ID it, photgraph it and record it.... then see the same bird in the Fall/winter and have to ID it again because it's plumage has changed so dramatically. Warblers are kings of this deciet.






We should have a forum/thread here that allows members to ask questions specifically about nature. Have a few members as moderators or responders. I would do it. And possibly use it. There are soooo many people here that are completely ignorant to nature and it's importance.... all they care about is getting high. There is no progress without struggle (Fredrick Douglas), but the answers should still be available. Informing is key.