Sunday, June 29, 2014

Here's to the Ladies! Yet Another Hummingbird Sunday

The weather is supposed to improve a bit today.
The cats say they will keep to their 'normal' schedule as follows:  
Awake and active from 5am-10am. 
Breakfast at 6:30am 
Nap from 10am-12 noon.  
Short break for kibble and water.  
Nap from 12:30-4:30pm.  
Active from 4:30-7:00pm 
Dinner 5:30pm.  
Nap from 7-8pm. 
Dinner 8pm. 
Active from 8-9:30pm.  
Sleep 9:30pm-5am. 
Repeat daily.

I thought I'd feature my hummers again this Sunday, and also show photos of my feeders.

This is my newest feeder.  The 1/2 bowl with the sugar water lifts up and so is easy to clean and refill. It is attached to the kitchen window and is just above my white three tier sedum stand.  While it took a good long while for the hummingbirds to find and use this feeder, it is now in regular use.

Looking at the photos I've taken it appears to be a favorite of the female Rufous Hummingbirds who perch on the red rim while drinking.

As you can see she has a green back with a bit of brown, a white belly with brown sides, and the tiniest bit of red iridescent feathers on the center of her throat.  

Her wings are gray/brown in color.

The ruffled feathers indicate she's irritated...

In this photo she's gone from irritated to Just Plain Mad!
She's probably about ready to fly and run off an interloper.

I've noticed that most of my photos of birds on the Back Patio are female Rufous.  

Working a blue salvia...

You can see the red throat patch. I like how her legs appear to dangle as she hovers.

Working a red salvia.

Here is a female Anna's Hummingbird. She's working on an aloe.

I have two of these feeders on the Front Porch - one on each end.
They are glass and so are easy to clean. They are bee-proof and wasp-proof too which is important as summer heats up in late July and into August. Notice that they also have a perch rim. I find the birds hang out longer at the feeders if they can 'rest' on the rim rather than having to hover while drinking.

The Front Porch seems to be Anna's Territory!

This is a rather feisty female Anna.  She too has gray/brown wings. But her back is entirely green, and her belly is white with a touch of green. No brown in sight.    

She also has few iridescent throat feathers. 

She was perched in a nearby Acer making sure no one else used 'her' feeder!
Next time I'll have to make sure I have some photos of the 'guys' to share with you.

One year ago I blogged about the "at home" cats and teased about our Day Trip Adventure with the World-Famous blogger, Mouse!  

8 comments:

Vickie said...

Fantastic photos today! The first made me smile. :)

Maggee said...

I love the pictures... especially the one that is 'ruffled' because she is angry! Hugs!

Mary said...

You take the most amazing humming bird photos. We have one in the neighborhood. It is spotted so rarely, that neighbor say with great excitement " I saw it yesterday" . Well I say it last year by my bee balm...such excitement.

Carol said...

Ah, the life of a cat--how cute is that first photo!! Do they each have their own chair and pad or do they "share." And what great hummingbird photos--can't believe how close you can get to them!

Margaret said...

Love the hummers -- nice to see their feeders too! lol about the cats! Sounds similar to Mia's schedule. Love how they all sleep one to a chair, all in a row. So cute!

Barb said...

Your hummingbird photos are just spectacular!!!! My hummer seems to be off doing its thing somewhere else!

Pam in IL said...

Love the hummingbirds!

I wish I had a schedule like the kitties, lol.

Melanie said...

Great photos! Especially as these guys can be terribly hard to photo.
They are always angry, aren't they? I'm fairly certain I'm going to be impaled by one at some point while I'm sitting on the deck. I had three fighting right over my head the other day and was ducking like my life depended on it. lol