Another dull, grey, drizzly day but our morning walk over to the park gave me today's idea because if there are 2 species we can count on seeing, even when there is nothing else...it is the 'big'....
the Bald Eagles.....today there were 7 spread out along the trail.....and no doubt a few more way out on the flats....
and the 'little'
the Anna's Hummingbird....we saw 7 of them as well. Twenty five years ago when I first started watching this area, it would have been unheard of to see a hummingbird in winter.
There was a set pattern for hummingbirds, you put out your feeder the beginning of March so it would be there when the male Rufous hummingbirds started arriving mid-month, but the end of the month, the females would have joined them. By the end of June, you saw the males no more until the next spring, the females and young would hang around until the end of August and then they would be gone too.
The first winter when someone said they had a hummingbird hanging about in a tree in their yard in the winter, no one really believed it until they saw it for themselves. That was probably 12 or 13 years ago. I'm sure I'd never even heard of an Anna's hummingbird at that point....but the next winter there were more of them, and the population has been growing ever since!
Of the 7 seen today, 2 were hanging out near feeders, but the other 5 were not.
the habitat here, which consists of native shrubs and small deciduous trees, must be ideal because, if you look very closely at the top
this little guy is in his accustomed spot. This has been his territory for at least 4 years now.
The female whose picture started this, well she likes the blackberries and red osier dogwoods at the north side of the log bay.....another male guards from the south side of the log bay.
another, you can just make him out on top of the left hand shrub, has claimed the area by the viewing platform.
A few facts about Anna's Hummingbirds, they live over 8 years and they can have up to 3 batches of youngsters a year, they start nesting in December. One thing I've noticed is that when the Rufous arrive, the Anna's become much less visible, in fact you don't see them all that much during late spring and summer, they come into their own in the winter.
So back to our walk....
spotted ....
this trio of Trumpeter Swans....haven't seen any in close like this for a while and they didn't stick around.
Our afternoon walk was later than normal....
and just not much of anything moving.....
the rose hips from the Nootka Roses are about the only bright spot!
No comments:
Post a Comment