Sorry folks, I hadn’t looked carefully enough at Bill’s graph.
He just explained to me that 2016 was his Big Year, and I now see that 2018 is the not-yet-finished line graph……… eyiyi
Fun stuff =)

—– Original Message —–

From: “LARRY ARNOLD”
To: “Bill Moore”
Cc: “IBLE”
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2018 10:58:49 AM
Subject: Re: [IBLE] Hummer Thoughts [1 Attachment]

Bill,

Awesome note and graphic!! Sincere thanks for these!
It’s hard for me to tell a difference in color for the lines of 2016 and 2018… Is it safe to assume that 2018 is the highest line on your graph? That would certainly match what we’re seeing at our feeders this year. and BTW, our numbers are rapidly declining, just over the last couple of days. But I don’t mind having fewer feeders to wash and refill… 😉

Reminds me of a lady in Sonoita AZ who fed a LOT of hummingbirds (40+ years ago), and I must quote her: “The best two days of the year are when the first hummingbird arrives in spring and when the last one leaves in fall!”

Larry

—– Original Message —–

From: “Bill Moore hootowlbill@gmail.com [ible]”
To: “lcarrigan 55”
Cc: “IBLE”
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2018 8:18:35 AM
Subject: [IBLE] Hummer Thoughts [1 Attachment]

[ Attachment(s) from Bill Moore included below]

I continue to entertain all four species, but mostly females and juveniles. There are a few males, but not many. Of course there’s no missing the the rufous males. Fields are dry, but the watered flower beds are hit by them

I’m down to four feeders and the rates have dropped off a little. Past experience was they quit over the next few weeks.

I’d say be careful trying to count hummers by feeder sightings. We had a bander come up a couple years ago and he banded 60-70 in a little over an hour with only one repeat; all others came only once. The speedy fellows look alike. I think a better way to guess population is feeder depletion since basically only hummers and hornets hit my feeders.

I’m not sure how migration works up here. I don’t see a spike in solution depletion, but rather a fairly steady rate; maybe some leave, some new ones show up and the current hatches swap somewhat evenly.

I copied my feeder curves from last few years. We didn’t start keeping data til mid year in 2015. Sorry size is so big, but it was not easy for me to do it. You can see steady rates and totals of 4 cup feeders emptied.. Gotta go fill a feeder as I’m being scolded through the front window.

Bill Moore
Hoot Owl
Inkom

,_. ,

Bill,

Awesome note and graphic!! Sincere thanks for these!
It’s hard for me to tell a difference in color for the lines of 2016 and 2018… Is it safe to assume that 2018 is the highest line on your graph? That would certainly match what we’re seeing at our feeders this year. and BTW, our numbers are rapidly declining, just over the last couple of days. But I don’t mind having fewer feeders to wash and refill… 😉

Reminds me of a lady in Sonoita AZ who fed a LOT of hummingbirds (40+ years ago), and I must quote her: “The best two days of the year are when the first hummingbird arrives in spring and when the last one leaves in fall!”

Larry

—– Original Message —–

From: “Bill Moore hootowlbill@gmail.com [ible]”
To: “lcarrigan 55”
Cc: “IBLE”
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2018 8:18:35 AM
Subject: [IBLE] Hummer Thoughts [1 Attachment]

[ Attachment(s) from Bill Moore included below]

I continue to entertain all four species, but mostly females and juveniles. There are a few males, but not many. Of course there’s no missing the the rufous males. Fields are dry, but the watered flower beds are hit by them

I’m down to four feeders and the rates have dropped off a little. Past experience was they quit over the next few weeks.

I’d say be careful trying to count hummers by feeder sightings. We had a bander come up a couple years ago and he banded 60-70 in a little over an hour with only one repeat; all others came only once. The speedy fellows look alike. I think a better way to guess population is feeder depletion since basically only hummers and hornets hit my feeders.

I’m not sure how migration works up here. I don’t see a spike in solution depletion, but rather a fairly steady rate; maybe some leave, some new ones show up and the current hatches swap somewhat evenly.

I copied my feeder curves from last few years. We didn’t start keeping data til mid year in 2015. Sorry size is so big, but it was not easy for me to do it. You can see steady rates and totals of 4 cup feeders emptied.. Gotta go fill a feeder as I’m being scolded through the front window.

Bill Moore
Hoot Owl
Inkom

,_. ,

Thanks for the information, Bill. I like your graphic representation. We’ve never had the number of Calliopes as coming through now, usu only one or two a season. And, we never get your numbers of Rufous. Your banding season info is remarkable & shows that trying to pick out individuals is futile.

This AM has been exclusively Calliopes coming in. A couple have been subadult males. It’s fascinating to me that all these juveniles hitting the feeder now have some “genetic memory” of migration, as no adults are to be found. I also, haven’t seen an adult Black-headed Grosbeak in nearly a week, yet had 10 juveniles at once at my seed feeder this AM. All, of which, will head south on their own.

All I can say is, this hummingbird season is one for my books, anyway. Now, I am going to tear myself away & try to catch-&-release a certain Brown that’s been giving me fits for a week from his hideout under a cottonwood snag in the Snake.

Good Birding
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Hey Chuck, I hope you don’t mind me sharing this on IBLE, since it was such a perfect answer to the question! 😉
Folks, please see short poem at end of this piece…

Gracias amigo!
Larry

Wed, 12 Oct 2005

Autumn Winds

The mockingbird is singing. He’s been doing that for three weeks now. What’s he doing bursting into song all of a sudden in late September and keeping it up for weeks?

All over, animals in the parks are restless. Squirrels are madly digging up nuts from one place, carrying them to another and re-burying them. Chipmunks have appeared, chipping from the bushes as we walk by. I normally don’t see chipmunks in the local parks, just ground and tree squirrels. Are they always here, but usually quiet so we don’t see them? Or did they migrate in for the season?

An unusual species of large yellow-billed blue bird appeared on the wire above the house. How odd! What’s blue, jay sized but has a big bulky yellow bill?

Binoculars provided the answer. A scrub jay with an acorn in its bill! Since then I’ve seen quite a few yellow-billed Stellar’s jays in the local parks as well.

The central area of Alum Rock is filled with a large family of acorn woodpeckers drilling holes in trees, posts, and the walls of the Youth Science Institute building to store their acorns for the winter. The YSI building looks like swiss cheese. A few days after I saw the woodpeckers at work, we went back and the buildings had all sprouted dangling silvery tinsel from all eaves. It seems to be keeping the woodpeckers away. Bad for me (they’re cute), good for the YSI.

I saw a couple of nuthatches at Arastradero. A first for me. I don’t know if they’re migrants, or if they’re always there and I’ve just never noticed before. Arastradero was also thick with white-tailed kites. There are always a few testing the slope currents there, but this time I saw at least four different pairs, maybe more, each with their own territory staked out. Somehow even with that many kites they all managed to stay too far away for me to get a good picture.

The reason for all the time spent at Alum Rock and Arastradero is that we’re on the hunt for tarantulas. Every fall, just as the weather starts to get cold, the male tarantulas come out of their burrows and go marching across the trails looking for females. (Maybe the females are marching too. I’m not clear on that.) They’re only out for a short time — maybe a week — and they’re easy to miss. Last year we missed them altogether (but then we lucked out and spotted one later that month while travelling in Arizona).

Anyway, we’ve had no tarantula luck yet this year. Henry Coe state park had its annual Tarantula Festival already, a week and a half ago. But they always seem to have the festival while the weather’s still hot, long before tarantulas show up in any other parks. Maybe Coe tarantulas are a different species which comes out earlier than the others. At any rate, we’ve seen no sign of them at Alum Rock or Arastradero so far this year.

But back to that singing mockingbird. He doesn’t seem to be the same mocker who set up house here this spring and raised three nests of chicks. That one had a very distinctive call note which I haven’t heard at all this fall.

But what’s he doing singing in autumn? Is he singing as he packs his bags to fly to LA or Mexico? Or confused about the weather? Someone asked that on a local birding list, after noticing thrashers (closely related to mockingbirds) suddenly finding the muse. I reproduce here the edifying and entertaining answer. (Googling, it appears to have been a folk song, though I can’t find a home page for the author or anything about the music.)

The Autumnal Recrudescence of the Amatory Urge

When the birds are cacaphonic in the trees and on the verge
Of the fields in mid-October when the cold is like a scourge.
It is not delight in winter that makes feathered voices surge,
But autumnal recrudescence of the amatory urge.

When the frost is on the punkin and when leaf and branch diverge,
Birds with hormones reawakened sing a paean, not a dirge.
What’s the reason for their warbling? Why on earth this late-year splurge?
The autumnal recrudescence of the amatory urge.

—

Written by Susan Stiles, copyright December 1973

I continue to entertain all four species, but mostly females and juveniles. There are a few males, but not many. Of course there’s no missing the the rufous males. Fields are dry, but the watered flower beds are hit by them

I’m down to four feeders and the rates have dropped off a little. Past experience was they quit over the next few weeks.

I’d say be careful trying to count hummers by feeder sightings. We had a bander come up a couple years ago and he banded 60-70 in a little over an hour with only one repeat; all others came only once. The speedy fellows look alike. I think a better way to guess population is feeder depletion since basically only hummers and hornets hit my feeders.

I’m not sure how migration works up here. I don’t see a spike in solution depletion, but rather a fairly steady rate; maybe some leave, some new ones show up and the current hatches swap somewhat evenly.

I copied my feeder curves from last few years. We didn’t start keeping data til mid year in 2015. Sorry size is so big, but it was not easy for me to do it. You can see steady rates and totals of 4 cup feeders emptied.. Gotta go fill a feeder as I’m being scolded through the front window.

Bill Moore
Hoot Owl
Inkom

> ,_.,

After my last post a couple of hours ago, I refilled the nectar & planned to go fly-fishing on the Snake. Literally, while carrying the feeder out to the deck hangar, I was bombarded by 3 Calliopes! So, I stepped back just far enough to focus my binocs & spent the rest of the time just watching the show. Fly-fishing will have to happen tomorrow.

This evening, all 4 regular species have shown, 1-2 ea of Broad-tailed & Black-chinned. Initially, Calliopes were hitting the feeder & then, quite suddenly, were totally replaced by Rufous for a full hour. I estimate 8-10 Rufous individuals were coming in non-stop. Then, over the past 1/2 hr, 4-5 Calliopes are back. Every single hummer this evening has been a juvenile. Indicates to me a massive migration out of the dry, hot & burning W US & Canadian Rockies. In the 2 hours since I filled the feeder, it’s been drained by nearly half. Quite a show!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

I just got a new yard bird – Hairy Woodpecker. He is having himself a fine time in my crabapple and apricot trees… Horseshoe Bend, Jonathan Barnett

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

Just had a juvenile Broad-tailed Hummingbird show up at the feeder. That finally makes all 4 since Monday: Black-chinned, Rufous, Calliope & now Broad-tailed. Interestingly, since Tuesday, I haven’t had an adult of any species. All are juveniles.

I’ve decreased to one nectar feeder now & fill it every 2 days.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

My most numerous nectar feeders now are juvenile Calliope Hummingbirds. They outnumber the remaining Black-chinneds 4 to 1 &, in early AM hours, rule the feeder.

Amazing to watch a creature the weight of a penny & the size of the last digit of my thumb in mid-flight face-offs with the larger hummers! A great show, in real-time.

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

I’ve heard this song before…… “We got here too early to bird! The birds aren’t up yet, not active yet, not vocalizing yet!” Oh, but I’ve always felt that there’s no such thing as arriving at a birding destination too early. But maybe this is an open question, eh?

Upon arrival at Foote Park (Ada County) this morning at 0540 hrs, and after explaining to a very curious county sheriff that I’m actually preparing for an early hike, eye-shine on the side of the road led me to my first poorwill of the day. Within minutes another one was calling/singing from the hillside. So, which is it for non-passerines? Can we call it “singing,” or are they “calling?” Is “singing” restricted to the song birds? I’ve wondered about this for years, but have never posed the question, and maybe someone on IBLE can enlighten us. If I beg? 😉

Anyway, soon after the poorwills, chats began cranking up, and they were catalysts for other birds to get cranked. It was glorious! My favorite birds were Warbling Vireo 2, Rock Wren 1, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2, Chipping Sparrow 4, Lark Sparrow 1, Spotted Towhee 4, Yellow-breasted Chat 3, and Wilson’s warbler 1. Many of these were near the water being pumped into the gulch; I found outlet pipes at two locations.

I have this crazy somewhere-out-in-right-field theory about songsters that are still singing… we are now two months after Summer Solstice, with essentially the same photo period as two months prior to the Solstice (late April). Again, something I’ve always wondered about… are birds still driven to sing primarily because of photo period?

Long story short: Birding remains my best fix for anxiety over sitting in the dentist’s chair, which I would be doing right after birding. Eyiyi!!

Larry, Boise

—