Scott, sincere thanks for your note. I’ve often heard male CAHU sound like they have a “loose or worn primary” or something that might sound like that? but that was during fall migration, at locations that had Calliope only during fall migration. I support your call to caution on ID of male BTLH by wing sound, and I’d say the same for males of other species, unless we have them at our feeders annually and hear them daily, like all day long. Experience is key. I’m tempted to say more because hums are fascinating, but it’s Time for me to get back out there among our feeders and check on the status of our hum-cussing and hum-fussing… =)

Larry

From: “Scott Tuthill satuthill@cableone.net [ible]”
To: “IBLE”
Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2019 2:34:41 PM
Subject: [IBLE] Hummingbird Report — Boise Highlands

Let me follow up from Larry’s Hummingbird Report with my own
observations here in the Highlands area of Boise.

I got our feeders up on April 30th and immediately had both
Black-chinned and Calliope visiting the feeders. I don’t keep as
accurate of records as Larry but in the last 10-12 years I think we have
had our FOY hummers in April only 2-3 times. The more normal date is May
3-5 or so. So yes, this is an early year.

So far I have only seen male Black-chinned but have both male and female
Calliope. Like Larry’s place, outside of spring and fall migration, the
only hummingbirds we have are Black-chinned. Calliope and Rufous are
brief visitors, hanging out only until they feel like moving on to
where they really want to be.

I want to pass on an observation and see if others have comments.
Yesterday I heard a hummer come in that sounded like a Huey Helicopter.
It’s wings were really loud. Almost like some of the flying beetles I
have seen and heard. Of course I immediately thought it was a
Broad-tailed – a specie I have only seen 2-3 times here and in the fall.
When I finally got a good look at it I realized it was a Calliope – no
doubt. The question then is why was it’s wingbeat so loud? A damaged
primary? Moulting? Any thoughts? I also want to caution folks to make a
Broad-tailed ID call based on wingbeat noise. I noticed a bunch of
recent eBird sightings of Broad-tailed that referenced this usual field
trait. But, it also seems like there might be “noisy Calliope’s” out there.

Scott Tuthill