I'd Rather B Birdin': Buff-Bellied Hummingbird

Showing posts with label Buff-Bellied Hummingbird. Show all posts

§ About Hummers...

Early in July, a reported vagrant bird was seen near Corpus Christi for a few weeks by then. The drive for me would calculate to about 20-30 minutes. I used my GPS on my smartphone to get to the private residence where it was last seen. I parked, got out of the car with my camera at the ready....noticing that the property owner was indeed another birder. There were hummingbird feeders galore, and feed stations situated throughout his yard for seed lovers. Of course, the property was fenced, but the gentleman came outdoors and told me where it was last seen [yes, it was still there and seen about 1 hour earlier]. We talked, he was very informative, and a congenial host. It was a misty morning so he offered that I go into the yard and stand under the patio covering. That was nice of him.

I stayed around about 30 minutes and saw no vagrant.

Two days later I believe, the bird still reported in the area, and we had a break in the bad weather we were having, I told Bud I was off to try again. Upon arriving, it was reminiscent of the movie "The Big Year" [if you have never seen this movie, it's a great movie, even for those that do not have a desire to bird]...birders from as far as New York, Michigan and other states were there. I happened to stand by a couple of birders that arrived shortly after I did, from Houston. We all watched vigilantly. Aha, some spotted it at feeder #3! The shutter buttons clicked away. I got one photo...but only 1/2 a bird visible before it took off again. It started raining heavily, and I got soaked. I went to the car to get my stash of 'come in handies". A towel and a large billed hat. Then again I took my ground and watched and waited. It returned! I got a few more shots, and walked a distance under a tree branch to hopefully get more. The bird stayed around for a few minutes moving from bush to feeder #4 and #3. My photos were not pristine nor much clarity, but I got the vagrant visitor recorded in photo and my birding chart.

The bird? A Green Breasted Mango Hummingbird. Mainly from the Central American area and northern South America. A consensus determining it was a young male. [females are marked similar]. The feather pattern and the down-curved bill is unique comparing them to North American hummingbirds. [In the interim, I also spotted a black chinned hummer and a buff bellied hummer -buff bellied being the red-orange bill-]...

BUFF BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD
Habitat map: Hummingbird

BLACK CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD
Habitat map: Hummingbird

These are the only photos I got. I am not sure if the bird remains in Texas, but I am satisfied to have these, and to have seen the rare bird with little travel time

GREEN BREASTED MANGO HUMMINGBIRD
Habitat map: Hummingbird

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§ Three in a Park...

My stop over at Bazemore park about a 20 minute drive from home one morning in late August, I sighted three rather 'scarce' birds seen in my part of the Coastal Bend, which made my morning!

The Buff-bellied Hummingbird is kinda scarce....tho a non-breeding resident in South Texas, their permanent range is mostly Northeast Mexico. You just have to be where they're feeding, at the right place and right time:

BUFF BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD
habitat map: Hummingbird

The hooded oriole is another species seen throughout the Southwest. Here, I saw both male and female

HOODED ORIOLE
habitat map: Oriole

When I first took up birding as a hobby, Green Jays were only sighted in the extreme southwest Texas, up from Old Mexico as you can see if you open the link provided with 'habitat map' below. Then, several years passed and I saw one in Calallen Texas [20 minutes from home] and then again at Corpus Christi Lake which is about 70 miles northwest of home. This past birding trip to Bazemore Park, I saw FOUR. What I think were two juveniles and two adults. I was quite elated to see them. I do so hope to someday get one in flight to show off the bright yellow along with the lime green plumage!! Someday.

....and my favorite captured:

GREEN JAY
habitat map: Jay

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§ 'Nother rarity in these parts...

For the last couple of weeks, around 8 a.m....our back yard has been nothing but a multitude of hummers!!! One morning when I was sitting out on the patio on my favorite bird watching bench, I counted...37 ruby-throats at 5 feeders!! I tried to get a photo of the whole shebang, but they were moving around and protecting their certain feeders, vying for a certain spot to make use of their tongues... and flying higher as a couple went, up, up, and away...I gave up. You just have to trust me on the count. And I've been having to refill EACH feeder with sugar-water EACH day. Not only are they having a feeding frenzy on their way south for the season, they have to share with another certain creature...wasps!! Now, I didn't know it was there at the feeder when I was out there with the camera, but when I got busy resizing the images from the camera to share with y'all...it was nice and pretty. The birds didn't seem to mind!! So, the one image in striped frame is the one with the intruder:

The one with the wasp!

Then, one day when Bud and I went to a favorite birding spot here within the city, Blucher Park, which was donated to the city in the late 1800s to keep as a bird sanctuary, we both armed with binoculars and I with my camera in hopes of spotting some migrants. There is a lot of late flowering bushes of a flame-red color that attracts the nectar feeding birds. Anyway, I was looking up, cranking my neck toward the sky around a huge mulberry tree to find a woodpecker I had heard. We were there about an hour already and found only the most common of birds, mockingbirds, doves, sparrows and such. I couldn't find the woodpecker so began walking toward the creek and bridge when all of a sudden I spied a different hummingbird species. I knew right away it was a rare sighting for my area [Nueces County] of Texas. The copper/rufous color of the tail feathers gave it away at first. I lifted my binoculars to see if I was correct in my identifying it. Yep...it not only had the rusty tail feathers, but as it flitted from one Turk's Cap bush [shown above in photo] to another, I was able to see the red beak!! That beak was a give-away. I tried over an over to follow it's flight pattern, with camera readied....to no avail. It just moved way too quickly to get a good opportunity to capture it in photo!! I told Bud "I just gotta stay here long enough to get at least one clear photo of this hummer!!" We were both getting bit by the horde of mosquitoes that were very hungry for our blood...hatching from the recent rains. I continued to try, still no luck. I walked over to the bridge and just watched. If all else fails I could at least mark it off my Texas Bird Chart as 'spotted' but not photographed. I had downloaded and printed off seven charts from a Texas Nature Site for my county that has birds recorded here. This particular hummingbird had "R" across the entire 12 months of the year. Meaning RARE. I like rare...even my Texas grilled steaks must be rare. But, that's beside the point. :o) After another hour of feeding the mosquitoes and Bud becoming a bit miserable because of them, we were just ready to give up on getting a photo. As we started heading back to the car to leave the park for the day...my spotter, Bud...stopped in his tracks, and held up his hand for me to stop. He then pointed off toward the tree by the creek. There, sitting pretty, preening, was the hummer!!! I began to click at the shutter button ---