[Tweeters] Additional Observations Regarding Anna’s

[Max Kingsbury]

Dan,

Thanks for sharing all of these observations. In return I will share an
amazing recent video of 40+ Anna's at a group of feeders on a Magnolia
porch (sorry it's embedded on NextDoor, you'll have to log in):
https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=212199655

Hope your feeders are all warm and busy with hummers!
-Max

On Thu, Nov 25, 2021 at 12:42 AM Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com> wrote:


> Hello Tweeters,

> I generally like to keep email responses in a chain/thread from the

> original email sender.

> I find it much easier to follow then each person starting a new one.

> Do others find the same?

>

> I make the exception here because I found the Anna’s threads in my junk

> file, which I check daily because I find some legitimate tweeters emails

> there.

> I am very cautious about some emails from Tweeters, because of the

> inappropriate  emails that began with the breach of Tweeters.

> I get 3-6 each day and put them in trash and delete.

>

> Now, my wife and I are big fans of hummingbirds.

> In addition to the great observations and comments by others, there is

> another we have noted regarding food source guarding and number of them

> feeding in close proximity.

>

> Sudden cold weather shifts and prolonged very low temperatures like we

> have had at times over the last year, appear to make the feeder guarding

> and chasing behavior much less frequent and often, if they do happen it is

> much slower and much less aggressive.

> And last winter, during the several days of the coldest weather, we

> observed more hummingbirds on one of feeders than ever before.

> Especially in the last 90 minutes before dark, up to 13-14 (8-10 more than

> the usual max) were side by side, close to touching and showed no signs of

> aggression.

> It was almost like there was some primitive “let’s all survive and we can

> dispute territory later” behavior.

> Flights were half speed or less- it was like seeing them in a slow motion

> video-which was very neat to watch.

> Or maybe they were just too chilled, with decreased metabolism and need to

> conserve energy for survival, to be aggressive. Or some or all of those and

> more.

>

> We have an additional feeder nearby and another 40 feet away and around

> the corner of our house. We currently have no more Anna’s than usual,

> around 3-5.

>

> However, our most interesting sugar feeding station occurs each fall and

> never needs to be attended or refilled.

>

> Each year a Red-breasted Sapsucker arrives and establishes sap wells

> between when the first leaves show signs of turning until about 90 % have

> fallen off our 45 year old Birch tree. The time range is about 5-7 weeks.

> Then the bird is gone.

> Currently, at least one Anna’s, four Black-capped Chickadees and one

> Ruby-crowned Kinglet are frequenting the “well-maintained“ wells, some are

> on the top side of larger branches, in addition to those on the usual

> vertical trunk surfaces.

> A group of 8-10 Bushtits are frequently in our yard and I always enjoy

> hearing them and watching them fly. This is the first year they have more

> than make a late afternoon visit to our suet feeders.

>

> They make stops to the Birch tree,

> As they move around the yard gleaning. I am interested to if they will use

> the sap wells. My speculation is no, but who knows?

>

> Has anyone seen them feeding at sap wells?

>

> Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

> Best regards,

> Dan Reiff

>

> Sent from my iPhone

> _______________________________________________

> Tweeters mailing list

> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20211228/2c689b4b/attachment.html>