Prescott's Four Hummingbirds

The first of July is Rufous Hummingbird Day at my cabin in Prescott.  Like most years, that was the day this summer when I saw the first one of the season perching in the alligator juniper tree adjacent to my deck.  By the end of the week, that or some other male rufous had unsurprisingly supplanted a male Anna's as the new owner of my yard's hummingbird feeder.  

Anna's hummingbirds can reside year-round in Prescott, many surviving winter's sub-zero temperatures and snowstorms.  To help them out during the arrival of the dominant rufouses, I installed a second sugar water feeder in my yard as soon I discovered the migrants.  Alas within a few days, another male rufous took control of that supply of nectar also.  Any Anna's imbibed only by daring occasional, furtive sips.  

Before the arrival of the rufous, I began spotting an occasional black-chinned hummingbird at the feeder.  This bird is a summer visitor to the higher elevations of Arizona, arriving in the spring to breed in the area.  It  doesn't seem to win many battles against the year-round Anna's, much less against the agressive rufous during the territorial fights in my Prescott yard. 

By the middle of the month, female and juvenile rufous hummingbirds started arriving in my yard as the mature males began leaving.  After breeding in the Pacific Northwest, the rufous hummingbirds were on a stopover during their long-distance migration back to Mexico and Central America.  Any Anna's had only a slim chance anymore against the many rufous hummingbirds battling for control of the feeders.  Some days I spotted three or four of the copper and green birds competing between themselves for the sugary prize.  

I was astounded last week to find a different and new species in one of these melees, a male broad-tailed hummingbird.  Like the black-chinned, it also breeds in the higher elevations of Arizona during the summer.  While I observed a few last summer in Flagstaff, this recent encounter was my very first in Prescott, let alone at my home.

The broad-tailed visited a feeder numerous times, but after a day or two he couldn't compete with the onslaught of newly arriving rufouses.  A lack of summer rain has inhibited the normal burst of wildflowers in Arizona so the sugar water at my home had become a precious commodity not only for the hummingbirds but for many woodpeckers also.

There is actually still a small chance that a Calliope hummingbird could wander into my yard.  Like the rufous, this tiny species is migrating back to Mexico after breeding in mountain environments north of Arizona.  It's also the smallest bird in the United States.  Adding a first-time sighting and a fifth hummingbird to my summer collection in Prescott might make up for my disappointment in the unseasonably hot and dry weather.

Male broad-tailed hummingbird at my Prescott home.

Male Anna's hummingbird at my home in Prescott.

Male rufous hummingbird at my home in Prescott.

Immature or female rufous hummingbird at my home in Prescott.

Male black-chinned hummingbird at my Prescott home.