Gravity-bound hominids,

Our first Rufous Hummingbird of the year was observed today among the flowers in our humgartenplatz, using plants like salvia, fireweed, red yucca, even checking out our orange/red roses. Feeder visits not yet observed. Appears to be a hatch year bird that may not recognize our feeders as sources of food. Previous first-of-year dates in our west Boise yard (elevation 2600 ft) have ranged from 13 July to 06 August. We never get many Rufous, and we’ve yet to see an adult male in our yard. IMHO, the species prefers a higher road southward, where useful wildflowers are.

Our annual Rufous Fix in Idaho has been to visit Brockman’s feeding station in the South Hills (elevation 5900 ft, an eBird hot spot in Twin Falls County), taking our granddaughters with us and enjoying a picnic with the hum show. Literally hundreds of hums there, fussing, cussing, and rivaling some of the best shows we’ve seen across the U.S., east coast to west coast, southern border to northern border.

BTW, the busiest hum air traffic control tower that I ever found was near Nogales AZ, where 15-16 gallons of 1:4 sugar water were consumed daily during the peak of fall migration. Losses to nectar thieves like ants, bees, and bats were dealt with in various ways so that a more accurate accounting could be derived of actual consumption by hums. It was about 20 years ago that I assisted the owner with his 130 humfeeders. Yikes, 20 years already!? To my knowledge, this place is no longer maintained for hums.

Cats drool, hummers rule!!

Good humming,

Larry

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