Archive for November, 2012

On November 14, 2012, I had the opportunity to witness a “Featherweight Fight” between two Anna’s Hummingbirds. One was an adult male and the other was a juvenile. They were at a feeder that was almost full. Angie and I were talking about  removing the feeders because it was starting to freeze at night. At the time we didn’t believe that any hummingbirds would still be in the area.

I happened to go out onto the patio and I had the opportunity to watched two birds jockeying for position and chasing each other away from the feeder. It just seemed to me to be the normal back and forth that you get from the hummers when they are hungry. However, after a short time these birds grappled in the air and had a controlled fall to the ground where the pecked at each other. They didn’t stay there long and were back up in the air. I had never seen this before so I quickly went inside to get my camera and came back out as fast as I could. The birds were still jabbing at each other as I got the camera focused on a bird at the feeder and started the video.

The birds ignored me and kept on with their battle. I didn’t expect to see much more than just chasing each other around but I was surprised by these small creatures. They flew by me a couple of times during the duel. Almost as I was ready to stop the video the hummers locked up again and went to the ground fighting. I was able to capture most of it as the continued the fight on the ground. After they went back into the air I taped another minute or so before I stopped. My battery was starting to flash at me. I knew that there wasn’t much time left on it.

I taped over 10 minutes of the exchange before I quit. The entire fight from the beginning until I shut off the camera was about 15 to 20 minutes. It did go on for a period of time afterwards. After editing, there is almost 3 minutes on the video for you to see. There is some brilliant green and red flashes in the pictures from the light hitting the feathers in just the right spots. The male Anna’s is still here at the BnB but we haven’t see the juvenile and we don’t know what finally happened.

I have the video on YouTube for you to enjoy.

Being on the San Pedro River, Down By The River B and B is visited by many bird species. Birding on the San Pedro is some of the best in the USA. There are also the resident birds that stay around all year. We are also an area that is a nursery for Black-Chinned Hummingbirds and we feed a lot of them with the feeders that are hung out at Down By The River B and B. We have other types of hummingbirds that visit us during the year, including Anna’s, Magnificent, Rufous, and Caliopie. Just this morning we had a subadult Caliopie here at the feeder while I was talking with a guest and I wish I had my camera since if flashed so much color in the sunlight. It seems to be a little late in the season for hummingbirds to still be around but maybe these birds decided to stay instead of flying south.We made a video on Hummingbird Breakfast at the B & B and it is fun to watch the jockeying for position by these little birds.

But every once in a while, along with the bats,  a sneaky Pete woodpecker has to put his beak into the nectar. We have Ladderback Woodpeckers and also Gila Woodpeckers in the area. Both of these birds are brazen and

Gila Woodpecker landing on feeder

will fly up to the hummingbird feeders and clamp their feet to the feeder. They are usually grab the edge of the feeder and hang below. With a little work they get into their position so that they can dip their beak into the nectar. Watching them do the gyration to get to the nectar is amusing.

The hummers will come to the feeder and see the woodpecker. They buzz around a little bit but soon decide that they don’t want to take on the bigger bird. The leave to find one of the other feeders we have on the patio. We shoo the woodpecker away and he gives a squawk at us as he leaves. He doesn’t go far. He will wait in a tree and after a bit he is back at the feeder.

Gila Woodpecker Getting Into Position To Have A Drink Of Nectar.

Gila Woodpecker Getting A Drink Of Nectar

One of our neighbors in St. David has a picture of bats at the feeder. It is on our facebook page if you would like to see it. If you go to our facebook page, LIKE us and comment if you wish. If you don’t have a facebook page you won’t be able to see this picture.

I have seen a swirling motion outside the dining room window when I went to lock up and turn the lights for the night. I was curious to see what was going on and went to the window. I saw a group of bats and as I watched  the bats swirled around the feeder, hit the bottle and flew down to catch the nectar as it came out the holes. It was a really eerie thing to watch.  We were wondering why our feeders would be drained in the morning. Now we know. If you have drained feeders in the morning you might want to check out the feeders at night to see if you have flying visitors.