Went to Hulls Gulch today with my ornithology class. We stood directly next to a male Calliope in a currant bush and watched as he sat there on the receiving-end of the divebomb mating/aggression display of another male CAHU! So fun to watch, and my students were imitating the “pew!” sound and laughing about that display for the rest of the day 🙂
We always play it by ear for Idaho City banding early in the season, but our first scheduled date is May 21st for monitoring there (http://hummingbirds.eventbrite.com)
We also had a flyby of another hummer that seemed large enough to be an Anna’s at Hulls today, but could not confirm. I’ve seen others eBirding a male ANHU there….very worth keeping track of him: if we are going to get a first breeding record in Idaho, that’s going to be the place!
Have to admit, we haven’t even put out our home feeder yet! Slacking….
While I’m at it and taking the time to post on IBLE I may as well also share our upcoming songbird banding dates! Free for anyone who wants to watch and enjoy 🙂   https://intermountainbirdobservatory.eventbrite.com

On Thursday, April 25, 2019, 11:26:49 PM EDT, Jonathan Barnett jrb4jc@hotmail.com [ible] wrote:

 

I had what looked like a Female Rufous Hummer yesterday.  FOY Lazuli Buntings showed up today, and FOY Western Kingbirds yesterday, fyi…Jonathan, Horseshoe Bend

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 
From: ible@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Richard Rusnak rarusnak62@gmail.com [ible]
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2019 8:03:19 PM
To: LARRY ARNOLD
Cc: IBLE
Subject: Re: [IBLE] hummingbirds – what are folks seeing and where ???  
Rich here reporting from S Nampa,  no BCHU’s yet, earliest for my yard is 24th. 
Cheers, R Rusnak

Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 25, 2019, at 6:03 PM, LARRY ARNOLD larnold47@cableone.net [ible] wrote:

 

Missy just now got on our FOY male BCHU, our earliest date ever Black-chinned Hummingbird in W Boise…  early by three daysso, fresh zuka juice feeders are going out NOW
we saw CAHU a couple days ago along Boise Greenbelt, and our really close best friend Jennifer near Idaho City reported her 1st CAHU to us on Apr 18
Heidi, what are you guys seeing or hearing?  and where?
Tom and Susan?  
other humnuts like maybe Cheryl and Denise?

cats drool, hummers rule
LA