Going to Extremes: Golden Eagle to Calliope Hummingbird

My wife and I used a long weekend and over 1200 miles from the life of our Honda to visit three amazing national parks this past weekend. We visited Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Canyon National Parks. We started at Bryce Canyon Thursday night, but we literally visited Bryce Canyon, Zion, and the Grand Canyon between Friday morning and Saturday afternoon. That is extreme, but we had a great time. America is beautiful and we love the red-rock country of Utah and Arizona. I'll share some of the trip highlights in coming days, but what happened this evening when we returned home capped off an extreme weekend in a bird sort of way. I'll explain and share a couple of images.

I'll start on the large end of extreme, a close encounter with one of North America's largest birds, the Golden Eagle.

Rain was falling as we were approaching the small town of Panguitch, Utah last Thursday. We were about 30 minutes from Bryce Canyon NP. I was driving and keeping track of the various raptor species I was seeing on the power poles along the highway when a raptor on a distant pole set off my eagle alarm. The shape, posture on the pole, and relative size were perfect for a Golden Eagle. It shouldn't surprise my wife at this point, but she wondered what the heck I was doing when I told her I was going to do a u-turn on the small two-lane highway. After completing the maneuver (which included a second u-turn), using the car as a mobile blind to get close to the eagle, and waiting for traffic to pass, I exited the car and did my special approach to the bird. It's a way of getting close without sending threatening body language to the bird. Once I was in the right place I was able to turn toward the eagle and capture a few images. White coloring at the base of the tail feathers let me know I was observing an immature bird.

The overcast sky didn't allow me to use a high shutter speed so the flight shots didn't turn out the way I would have liked. That's a bummer because few things compare to an eagle in flight. The image below was the best of the bunch, but it didn't start out that way. I recently started shooting raw images and playing around with Adobe Lightroom. I still don't know what I'm doing with the software, but I was able to change the lighting and bring out some hidden details from the raw image. For me, a raptor nut, the trip was starting out just right.

Immature Golden Eagle Near Panguitch, UT

Now for the other extreme at the tail end of our trip, a very close-to-home encounter with North America's smallest bird, the Calliope Hummingbird.

Prior to leaving for our trip last Thursday I loaded the front and back yard hummingbird feeders with sugar water. I did that because I was hoping that migrating Calliope Hummingbirds would visit my feeders again this year. It was about this time last year when I began to see several Calliopes at my feeders. I was hopeful that they'd follow the same migration route this year and drop by my house for another visit. I figured that I'd increase my odds for drawing them in again this year if I kept the feeders busy with the typical Black-chinned and Rufous Hummingbirds while I was gone.

I read an email from another Utah birder while I was on my trip. He emailed the local community to find out if anyone was seeing Calliopes in Utah County. His question was raised because he researched eBird, an online tool I and countless other birders use to report bird species we observe. He saw that I had reported Calliopes at my yard feeders this time last year and was wondering why no one was reporting them this year. My fingers were crossed that my loaded feeders were doing their job in my absence.

Well, we returned from our trip this afternoon and the second bird I saw at my front porch feeder was a young male Calliope. Success! He doesn't have his long sword-like gorget feathers, but he'll have them soon.

Immature Male Calliope Hummingbird in Pleasant Grove, UT

Adult males generally migrate ahead of the females and juveniles, but I'm still hopeful that an adult male will pay a visit again this month. I'd like to get some video of an adult male at the feeder. For now I'll share a clip of tonight's young male as it fed from the feeder. The image quality will be better if viewed at 1080p HD.

Sunshine's Got Me Humming for Hummers!

I love this time of year. Spring is beautiful. After months of winter and overcast skies the sunny blue sky decorated with fluffy white clouds is priceless. Pink, white, yellow, and blue flowers are decorating trees, shrubs, lawns, fields, and meadows. The excitement for spring prompted me to pull out my hummingbird feeders, fill, and hang them this afternoon. I am humming for hummingbirds.

This is the view through my home office window now that I've hung my front porch feeder. I love our Utah mountains and canyons. I would love for the pink ornamental peach blossoms to hang around longer than the next strong spring wind.

The first hummingbirds to show up in my yard here in Utah County are usually Black-chinned, but I sometimes hear the trilling of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds before I see my first hummingbird of the spring.

Male Black-chinned Hummingbird at Feeder in Pleasant Grove, UT

Female (possibly young male) Black-chinned Hummingbird at Yard Feeder in Pleasant Grove, UT

Male Broad-tailed Hummingbird in American Fork Canyon Utah County, UT

Female Broad-tailed Hummingbird in American Fork Canyon Utah County, UT

The Black-chinned are seen throughout the summer and early fall, but the Broad-tailed tend to make their way up to higher elevations after a brief spring visit. I see them in my yard again a little later in the summer after they finish breeding and are making their way south again.

Fall Migration for hummingbirds actually starts during the month of August here in northern Utah. That's when I get the chance to see Rufous Hummingbirds. They tend to move north along the west coast in the spring migration and down the Rocky Mountain Range during fall migration. They are the feistiest hummingbirds when they make a temporary claim on my feeders during their fall migration southward. They will chase off all other hummingbirds that try to get some sweet water at the feeders.

Male Rufous Hummingbird Duchesne (Doo-shane) County, UT

Immature Male Rufous Hummingbird in Duchesne County, UT

Female Rufous Hummingbird in Pleasant Grove, UT

If you get too used to seeing the typical hummingbirds in northern Utah you may actually be sleeping at the hummingbird wheel when an uncommon species pays a visit. Last season I had several Calliope Hummingbirds visit my feeder. They are typically seen in our mountains. The males are obvious with they long, streaky-looking gorget feathers.

Calliope Hummingbird in Duchesne County, UT

Male Calliope Hummingbird in Duchesne County, UT

The female Calliopes might be passed off for a more common hummingbird without careful attention to their short tails. Their wing tips reach just beyond the tail tip. They look slightly hunchbacked when perched and they have a thin white line of feathers from the top base of the bill to the eye. They also have a buffy color on the belly and sides.

Another easily overlooked variation of a common Utah Hummingbird is the green-backed Rufous. Probably 95% of Rufous Hummingbirds have a rufous back (see the image of the male about six images above). I had a green-backed Rufous claim my backyard feeder last fall for a week or so. These look much like an Allen's Hummingbird (common along the California coast), but the tail feathers just on each side of the central feathers is often the distinguishing factor between the two.

Male Rufous Hummingbird (green-backed variation) in Pleasant Grove, UT

Male Rufous Hummingbird (green-backed variation) in Pleasant Grove, UT

The image below shows the notch in the two feathers on either side of the central tail feathers that is typical for Rufous Hummingbird. Allen's Hummingbirds do not show this notch and otherwise look very similar to a green-backed Rufous Hummingbird.

I am so ready for some hummingbirds to visit my yard! Hang a feeder and watch for some visitors.

More Front Porch Birding: Caspian to Calliope

I took a look at the nectar feeder outside my home office window when I returned from work tonight and saw my 4th individual Calliope for the season. The first showed up several weeks ago and was an adult male with his sword-like, rosy throat feathers. The second was either a juvenile or adult female. The third was a young male and tonight's bird looked like an adult female. Unfortunately, when I sat in my chair on the porch the bird decided to either go to the backyard feeder or take a break altogether. I sat with my mother in law, who is suffering with Alzheimer's Disease and staying in our home for awhile, and watched for about 30 minutes without a single visit from the Calliope. While we were waiting, however, I heard the flight call of a Caspian Tern. After scanning the sky for about five seconds I located the bird and watched it fly right over the top of our house. That Tern turned out to be the 69th species of bird I've seen since keeping track of the species seen in and from my yard. It was flying high so I had to really crop the image below to show some of the detail of the bird's markings.

First Caspian Tern Seen From My Yard in Pleasant Grove, UT

My mother in law and I decided to go in and make dinner when my wife returned home. Another glance out the window before sitting down for dinner revealed the same Calliope so I began enjoying a nice dinner with hope that more opportunities to see and possibly photograph the bird would come after dinner. Within moments of resuming my front porch birding post the Calliope returned with determination to get through the Black-chinned and Rufous Hummingbirds scuffling over the feeder. I used a flashlight to provide some additional lighting since the natural light was fading quickly. The posture below is typical for the Calliope at the feeder--somewhat squared tail held slightly and rather steadily in an upward curve. The similar looking young Rufous Hummingbirds tend to hold their tails so they taper to a point and show more of a sharp upward angle from the rump.

Calliope Hummingbird Pleasant Grove, UT

The dark on the bill in the image below is a shadow being cast by the feeder. My light was at an angle that caused the shadow.

Calliope Hummingbird Pleasant Grove, UT

I captured some shots of a juvenile Rufous Hummingbird to show the differences between a young Rufous and the Calliope. I thought it might be helpful since some of my friends and readers were sending images and sharing sightings hoping they were seeing a Calliope at their feeders. I'm sharing some side by side shots below that I hope allow the differences to be explained and seen. The Rufous is on the left and the Calliope is on the right.

The Rufous shows more of a rufous color on the outer tail feathers and the tail comes to a point. The Calliope shows more green and black on the outer tail feathers and the tail does not come to a point but rather appears somewhat squared when not fanned. The Rufous shows more dark between the eye and the upper mandible (bill) where the Calliope shows a thin black line between the white in front of the eye and at the base of the upper mandible. Rufous Hummingbirds also show more of an obvious white chest between the throat and the color on the sides where Calliope lack this contrast. The vertical lines on the throat formed by greenish feathers are finer and flow more toward the side of the neck on the Calliope than the Rufous. These lines of feathers are thicker as they terminate at the base of the throat on the Rufous. Another typical behavior with Calliope's at a feeder is they rarely perch and feed because they are shorter with a shorter bill. Consequently, they generally hover at the feeder in order to get their bills as deeply as possible into the feeder where the Rufous will perch and still be able to reach deep enough into the feeder to get the sugar water. Finally, the Calliope wing extends beyond the tip of the tail. Although the Calliope's wings are in mid flight, you can see that the tips do extend beyond the length of the tail.

Here is another image to show a closer view of tonight's Calliope.

Finally, I captured a couple images of a young male and an adult male Black-chinned Hummingbird for a quick comparison as well. The young male is starting to show some of its dark throat feathers as well as darkening between the eye and the bill.

Here is the image of the adult from tonight in bad lighting.

Finally, here is an image to illustrate what this young male will look when it is in complete adult plumage.

The Latest Visitor to My Hummingbird Feeder

I've spent the past few Saturday's around the house as my wife and I have been caring for her aging mother who is visiting with us for a while. Several days ago I noticed a hummingbird that stood out from the rest. The average person wouldn't notice the subtle differences among hummingbirds, but after you watch them for a while you begin to more easily recognize when one differs from the others. In this case I caught a glimpse of a bird that was visibly smaller (about half an inch) than the Rufous Hummingbirds with which it was fighting to get a place at the feeder. The tail was noticeably shorter and more squared when fanned. It also had very limited rufous coloring in the base of the tail. Its sides were more of a buffy color than a rufous color. It was a loner as well. It was chased by both Rufous and Black-chinned Hummingbirds so photo opportunities were difficult to capture.

Here is a series of photos starting at a distance (and/or poorest image quality) and getting closer as the images progress. I'll provide some clues along the way. These images were captured in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Do you know what hummingbird species this might be? Can you tell if it is an adult or juvenile, male or female? Have fun!

Buffy sides, white visible at base of upper mandible, wings covering tip of tail...

Slight streaking on throat, buffy chest, short thin bill, white at base of upper mandible, wings reaching tail tip, very slight rufous coloring at base of outer tail feathers, tail is squared while perched...

Lousy image, but tail is squared while fanned, central tail feathers blurred, unfortunately...

Slightly darker feather on throat?...

Central tail feathers visible in this image, black and shorter than the white-tipped tail feathers...

And a few final images...

Well, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts so feel free to leave a comment or email me.

As a final clue, if you need one, I'll share an image of an adult male of this species.

Calliope Hummingbird: My Unexpected Visitor

I've been feeding hummingbirds in my Pleasant Grove, Utah yard for several summers now. I usually start seeing Black-chinned and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds (images provided below) arriving from Mexico around mid- to late April as a result of their spring migration. The Black-chinned remain common at lower-elevation yard feeders throughout the summer, but the Broad-tailed prefer to take up residence in the coniferous forests of our nearby mountains.

Fall is my favorite of the two hummingbird migrations through northern Utah. It begins around mid-July and lasts about six to eight weeks. I enjoy fall more because Broad-tailed and two more species of hummingbird can suddenly join the Black-chinned at yard feeders.  The most common of the two additional fall migrants is the Rufous (ruu-fuss) Hummingbird. I don't see them often in spring because they migrate, as do many other birds, in a clockwise pattern. They typically go up the west coat from Mexico toward the American northwest, western Canada, and the coast of Alaska in the spring and then down through the Rocky Mountain states in the summer (fall migration). It could be that flowers along the coast provide a great food source in the spring and the mountains are better to pass in the late summer season. Rufous are very territorial when they stake a claim on a yard feeder and often buzz or dive bomb the Black-chinned and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds who try to sip from "their" feeder.

The less commonly-seen hummingbird species during our summer in northern Utah is the Calliope (Ka-lie-a-pee). I usually see one a year by traveling a great distance to where one has been located by others. The Calliope is the smallest hummingbird in North America north of Mexico. It is about 3.25 inches long or anywhere from .5 to .75 inches shorter than the other hummingbirds I've mentioned. The male Calliope has a striking gorget (throat feathers) when the light hits it just right. I've positively confirmed the identity of one female Calliope so they are even more difficult to locate in my part of Utah. Perhaps their lack of a striking gorget is part of the reason they blend in with other female hummingbirds and go unidentified.

On August 1st I came home from work and was delighted to have a male Calliope at my front porch feeder. I captured some images that night and am sharing several of them now. I was sitting in a camp chair with a light between my knees trained on the feeder when I captured these images--gotta be creative and improvise sometimes. Because my perspective and the light source come from the same angle the colorful reflection from the bird's gorget is minimized in these images. The Calliope has been making appearances at my feeder for three days straight as of this post.

The long tongue is partially revealed in this image.

Male Calliope Hummingbird at Pleasant Grove, UT Feeder

Male Calliope Hummingbird at Pleasant Grove, UT Feeder

Male Calliope Hummingbird at Pleasant Grove, UT Feeder

The images below were captured last summer (2012) at a feeder in Tabiona, UT. These images allow you to see the gorget in more natural light.

Male Calliope Hummingbird in Tabiona, UT

Male Calliope Hummingbird in Tabiona, UT

If you want to have some fun experiences during spring and summer months and a talking point for visitors to your home, hang up a feeder or two. Mix one part sugar to four parts water and watch the birds come. Be sure the sugar is completely dissolved before putting it in your feeder. Sugar water can ferment in the hot sun so clean the feeder and change the water every couple of days to avoid mold and fermentation. If you heat the water to dissolve the sugar be sure to let it cool before putting it into the feeder. No one like to burn their tongue!

Images of the other hummingbird species mentioned in this post are shown below.  

Female Black-chinned Hummingbird Utah County, UT

Male Black-chinned Hummingbird St George, UT

The image below reveals a blue/purple border at the base of the gorget. It is more easily seen when in direct sunlight.

Male Black-chinned Hummingbird St George, UT

The male Broad-tailed Hummingbird below has some pollen showing at the upper base of the bill.

Male Broad-tailed Hummingbird Tabiona, UT

The Broad Tail of a Male Broad-tailed Hummingbird Utah County, UT

Female Broad-tailed Hummingbirds lack the gorget feathers of the adult male, but the rest of the plumage is similar to the male.

Female Broad-tailed Hummingbird Utah County, UT

Male Rufous Hummingbird Washington County, UT

Male Rufous Hummingbird Tabiona, UT

Male Rufous and Male Calliope Hummingbirds in Tabiona, UT

The full throat of the young male Rufous below will be completely covered in brilliant color when it becomes a full adult. What appears to be greenish lines on the throat will develop into fuller gorget feathers.

Subadult Male Rufous Hummingbird Tabiona, UT

Adult female Rufous Hummingbirds show a central spot of colored throat feathers.

Female Rufous Hummingbird Pleasant Grove, UT