Mike in the Wild

The new year has greeted Phoenix with chilly overnight temperatures that seem to make my backyard nectar feeder even more important to my neighborhood's hummingbirds.  As usual, a male Anna's has established control over his territory and is chasing other hungry hummers away.  Nevertheless, with persistence and guile, other birds are getting their own sips in at the feeder even if only for a brief moment.   At dusk, interestingly, the male's defenses must either be overwhelmed or they just call it a night as I've seen up to five or six birds at one time filling the eight spaces at the feeder.  It's the only time I see a mix of males, females and juveniles in such close proximity. While the Anna's hummingbird is the dominant species in my area of Phoenix, the Costa's has become a regular visitor to my yard during the winter.  This variety of the bird probably breeds further west and north along the Colorado River and in southern California during warme...

Apparently all birds molt to some degree, shedding and replacing their feathers in various stages over certain periods of time.  Feathers are critically useful but nevertheless dead appendages that wear out and become damaged, so regular replacements benefit the animal. Having observed hundreds if not thousands of birds in the last few years, I've only noticed the molting process a couple of times.  Most notably, I've seen a great-tailed grackle without his namesake tail.  During the short period without this appendage he still seemed to be able to fly. Early in January I photographed a male Costa's hummingbird at my Phoenix home's sugar water feeder.  Studying the pictures, I noticed the bird's bright amethyst colored gorget feathers were either damaged or missing.  Having seen some diseased hummingbirds at my feeder in past seasons, I feared maybe he was sick.   Not finding a lot of time to research a new avian disease, a few weeks later I phot...

Phoenix is blessed with beautiful autumn weather that guarantees every resident a welcome return to their patio after a summer's cloister indoors from the relentless heat.  Besides barbecuing and sunbathing, birding is a favorite seasonal backyard attraction, with our local hummingbirds getting star billing in that activity.  They're regular customers of the sugar water feeders we keep provisioned, in addition to the lantana, petunias and countless other flowers we grow in our yards.   While the state of Arizona attracts a large variety of migratory and seasonal hummingbirds, the sprawling city of Phoenix is home to predominately one, the Anna's.  It's most likely that the bird flashing his magenta gorget and head as he darts, buzzes and chirps about your backyard is a male member of this species.  But the local Sonoran Desert is also the full-time home to another hummingbird variety, the Costa's.  Less than two thirds the size of the Anna's, the d...