[Birdtalk] Watch for Calliopes

[Kristin Purdy]

I've been bemoaning the lack of hummingbirds at my feeders. I even visited Brenda and Kent Kidman to enjoy the bounty of their feeders because my hummingbird numbers are low.  But all my whining is doing some good. A couple nights ago, a hatch-year male Calliope showed up at my feeders and I've seen him for several days now. Last night I got the briefest of looks at a hummingbird that I'll simply describe as orange, and that's all I saw before it sped away. This morning, a female Calliope showed up and now she has visited a newly-placed feeder twice. 

These visits don't represent an influx, mind you; perhaps I still only have 5-6 regular visitors. 

My experience with the Calliopes and the experiences of a couple friends may indicate that these less common hummers are here more frequently than we notice. Perhaps if we all watch for them and report those we see, we'll gain a better idea of how frequently they appear at our feeding stations. 

The Calliopes are not dominant hummingbirds and they don't compete well for places at the feeders. They usually appear alone after the evening feeding peak and just before dark. In addition, the several things that draw my attention to them are 1) how tiny they are--seemingly like the size of a large bumblebee, 2) How incredibly short and stubby their bills are--the females' bills seem to be only about a half to three-quarters of an inch long, and 3) Their bills are so short they have to hover constantly to reach into the feeding ports. They cannot sit on the perches and still reach the nectar. The male Calliope can sometimes sit, but he plants his bill up to its base into the port and flutters a bit when leaning to or away from his drink. The male Black-chins' bills are so long they seem to only insert their bills up to about halfway.

Once a Calliope snags my attention, I can look for more subtle field marks like the wings reaching to or past the stubby tail, the gorget or throat pattern, the buffy wash down the sides, the relatively green back and wings, and if the bird is positioned with its back to me, the shape of the end of the central tail feathers. That's hard to see unless the bird flares its tail while perched, but I have seen those spade-shaped tail feathers at my feeders before. Of course, none of my recent Calliope visits have been from the readily-identifiable adult males who sport those remarkable shaggy pink gorgets.

So...have you had a Calliope at your feeder? Please watch and let us know.

Kris
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