Woodstars, pufflegs and sabrewings.

August 23, 2017 1:21 PM

Hummingbrds: cute, hypnotic, surprising and interesting.
posted by Bloxworth Snout (14 comments total)

It's so weird to see a bird occupying a niche that is filled everywhere else by insects. Flies like a bee and has a tongue like a butterfly. Insane metabolism, higher than any warm-blooded animal. It's such a weird bird.

...and it's only in the Americas. I never realized that until recently. Europe, Africa, and Asia don't get hummingbirds.
posted by leotrotsky at 1:29 PM on August 23, 2017

Love this post! The pool party is great and the piece about the relationship b/w the tail feathers and the sound is awesome. Wonder if there is a Primus hummingbird species undiscovered somewhere, Selasphorus claypoolus.
posted by strelitzia at 1:38 PM on August 23, 2017

Wow at the "hypnotic" video. Our local rufous hummingbirds would never stand for sharing a food source like that. They're ridiculously territorial, even with multiple sources of food they'll chase each other if another hummingbird enters their line of sight, such that tiny little aerial dogfights are a throughout-the-day occurrence on my deck during the summer months.
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:43 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Cornell's live hummingbird cam!

I am also baffled by the "hypnotic" video (and the Cornell cam above, but I'm assuming because it's West Texas there are limited resources and they just deal), because the drama and bitching and aerial battles in my yard are constant. Occasionally accidentally two will feed at one feeder on opposite sides where they can't see each other, but they never do it willingly.

I love my hummingbirds so much. I get scolded when the feeders get empty, and sometimes as I'm bringing them back out, if I just stand still holding them for as long as I can, I'll get several visitors. I haven't bought hand-feeders yet, but I might soon.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:00 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Holy cats those are some fancy hummers in their woolly legwarmers and peacock tail feathers! <3

Somewhere around here I have photos/videos of the hummers at our feeder. We had four feeders out, but they all only cared about this one. And they'd mostly all get along, the Allens and Annas. The Rufous were always the aggressive MINE MINE MINE GO AWAY ones.
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:04 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Omfg some of them have pom pom footsies
posted by Hermione Granger at 2:04 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

If you are ever around Tucson/Patagonia, GO THERE. The Audubon Paton Hummingbird Center is basically some lady's yard filled with feeders, hosting hundreds of hummingbirds, as well as insanely darling families of quails. It's one of the most charming places in the US. Yes of course there are livecams.

We catch hummingbirds pretty often when bird banding. They are uncanny in the hand, it feels more like getting a bee out of the net than a normal bird. Sometimes they fall into torpor (it's how they sleep) and you have to blow a bit of warm air to get the little snoozing birdbug in your hand whirring again. Bird facts.
posted by Freyja at 2:48 PM on August 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Please keep your feeders clean and fresh.
posted by D.C. at 2:52 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

The hummingbirds in Arizona are amazing. There are about 7-8 different kinds (I lost count of how many kinds I saw in the 'hypnotic' video) and the numbers are astounding. When you have 25 feeders and hundreds of birds, they are not so crazy territorial. They still move like rockets and most of them are really hard to identify. They have numbers on the feeders and people will call out when they see something good: "Lucifer hummer on feeder 8!"
posted by Bee'sWing at 2:59 PM on August 23, 2017

The "pom, pom footsies," they slay me!

We too have onery Rufus who wont share the feeders. But the Black Chinned arent much better.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 3:18 PM on August 23, 2017

My mom has feeders up at her cottage; I was there recently without her and the feeders were empty, and I didn't know how to make the food, so we didn't see many hummingbirds that weekend. Next time I went up the feeders were full and they were all over the place. The most interesting thing is that she says that usually when they are empty, a hummingbird will buzz around her face, as if to say "hey lady, you are slipping up! feeed me!" I didn't get the same treatment, even though my mom and I look quite a bit alike. They know her!!!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:36 PM on August 23, 2017

They are amazing, and amazingly vicious little things. The first year we had feeders we had a simply huge group come and jostle and fuss and fight, much to the glee of our horrible cat. She couldn't get her fat butt off the ground enough to even alarm them and was thwarted again and again. Until one day, when two fought each other to the ground, oblivious to anything else, and she pounced out from under the house. I hated that a hummy died that day, but it's the proudest moment of her life, and had they just let each other be, she would have never had a prayer.
posted by thebrokedown at 6:40 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Another hummer tale. I'm known for my daily uniform of grey t-shirts and jeans, but one day I was wearing a fuchsia shirt for some unknown reason, and one of them caught sight of me and clearly thought, OMG biggest flower ever! He came very close to me to give me the old once-over, and the look of utter distain when he discovered his error was comical. And a tiny bit frightening.
posted by thebrokedown at 6:45 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wow, the "interesting" link is amazing! Somebody please connect this researcher with somebody better at video, because that is some fascinating stuff and I'd love to see better-quality, color video.
posted by Lexica at 7:16 PM on August 23, 2017