Spring Migration - Hummingbirds

Spring time is migration time for hummingbirds and they come across the North Rim in droves.  As we and our co-hosts got our rigs parked and the sun began to catch the highly reflective reds and yellows of tail and clearance lights, you could hear the strum of tiny wing beats as hummingbirds streamed by to check out all the color.

Most of their movement was so fast that getting a lens on them was nearly impossible.  Cyndee made up a batch of hummingbird food and we set out a feeder for a couple hours to see if we could get them to linger just long enough to snap a couple of shots and identify what was coming through.

At the end of our quick little study we had identified three species: the Broad-Tailed, Black-Chinned & Magnificent Hummingbird.  Many of the hummingbirds look so similar it is hard to tell one from another, especially on the wing.  But with stop-action photography and a great birding app on Cyndee’s phone we were able to sort out the small differences and get a good identification.

Male Broad-Tailed

Female Broad-Tailed and Black-Chinned

Female Black-Chinned.  The girls do not have the black chin, just the males.

One bird that there was no doubt it was different than the rest was the Magnificent Hummingbird.  This guy was like a B-1 bomber alongside fighter jets.  His wing beat sound was a couple of octaves lower and could be heard from greater distances.  And except for his wing beat, made no other sound.

Something else he did that the little ones did not was to keep to the shade.  Without sunlight hitting them directly, all the hummingbirds look like they are colored a flat black or charcoal.  But when the sun hits their scale-shaped feathers they explode with color.  The little ones seemed to try to stay in the light and display their color while the Magnificent did just the opposite.

The big one is the Magnificent Hummingbird.  He only came around when he could stay in the shade.

We may try to attract again later and see if we can catch the big one out in the light.  Depending on the direction of the light, their neck can be either blue or green and their head has the deepest purple cap you have ever seen.