[Birdtalk] Watch for Calliopes

[Eric Huish]

I've had at least two calliopes at my feeders for a couple weeks now. I've 
only once had an adult male Calliope show up (in spring a couple years ago).

I get large numbers of female and young hummingbirds at my feeders every 
fall including a few Calliopes each year. They are always outnumbered by 
many Rufous and Black-chinned.  I usually only get a few Broad-tailed.

Last year I spent some time next to my feeders watching the birds closely 
and taking picture to try to become more confident in identifying female 
hummingbirds.  You can find some of the photos at 
http://www.utahbirds.org/newsletters/2004-5/2005_08.html#Identifying%20Female%20Hummingbirds 
..  I am still not confident in identifying female and young hummingbirds.


Eric Huish
Pleasant Grove UT
poorwill_ at hotmail.com
801-360-8777




----Original Message Follows----
From: "Kristin Purdy" <kristinpurdy at comcast.net>
To: <birdtalk at utahbirds.org>
Subject: [Birdtalk] Watch for Calliopes
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:53:43 -0600

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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