[Birdtalk] Rufous Hummingbirds in Wasatch County

[Brenda Kidman]

Hello Everyone,

We have a South Weber backyard full of rufous and blackchinned.  There are
some mature males, the noise is unmistakable!  I don't think we have any
broad tailed yet.  We have been deep in black chinned until the rufous
joined them about a week ago, but no broad tailed all season.  (yet!)

We did see a LOT of Northern Flickers when we went camping last weekend.
They had to be nesting.   I also saw a cedar waxwing doing the "feed me,
feed me" dance to its parents.  Very cute.  The campsite was also full of
hummers.  It wasn't very close to the river, but it was the best for birding
we have ever had.

Brenda

On 8/12/06, Kristin Purdy <kristinpurdy at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>  Thursday morning I found myself up to my knees in immature Rufous and
> probably Broad-tailed Hummingbirds at Strawberrry Reservoir in Wasatch
> County. Along the northeast edge of the reservoir, the Ladders Day Use Area
> is served by a dirt road from US-40. The road is bordered by alfalfa-covered
> fields and the fields were jammed with hummingbirds. The hummers zoomed over
> the alfalfa like somebody had busted open a beehive and the bees were making
> their escape.
>
> Walking out into the field to be among them was an interesting experience.
> I should have worn my favorite ruby-red shirt that always causes hummers to
> buzz me, but I didn't think of it until it was too late. But a few curious
> birds still zoomed straight to me and took a good look before they returned
> to foraging and chasing the other birds.
>
> I set up my scope on the dirt road panning west over the knee-high alfalfa
> and could pick up hummingbirds perched on the flowers. One particular
> Rufous, which I believe was a juvenile male, consistently landed on a little
> curling wire on a metal post about 8 feet away from me with his back to me
> and the eastern sun. From that vantage point he surveyed his thousand-square
> foot little kingdom. Each of the hummers was defending a similar
> territory. And what noise they made!
>
> I don't think any adult male Rufous were present. Not only did I not see
> one, I didn't hear any wing-whirrs in an hour or so of watching and
> listening.
>
> An adult female Rufous is frequenting the feeders on the porch of the
> Lodgepole Grill at Daniel Summit Lodge at the summit between Heber Valley
> and Strawberry; about mile 34.3 of US-40. Several Broad-tailed Hummers are
> using the feeders also. The Rufous' first task on each arrival at the
> feeders was to chase the others away.
>
> Lodgepole Campground just below the summit on the north side produced
> great looks at several Red Crossbills yesterday morning. The crossbills were
> in the Austrian Pines along the descending entrance road, at the very first
> parking lot across from the dump station, and along the first part of the
> road to Loop A. This is a fairly small area and the birds could easily be
> heard from any of the three spots listed above. One obliging male perched
> and sang for as long as I cared to watch him on a dead willow branch just 10
> feet high at the parking area.
>
> Kris
>
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