[Birdtalk] An amazing Hummer treat

[John Morgan]

Watched some Black-Chinned mating rituals this evening, some 15- to 20-mins after sundown. We had front row seats as it unfolded between the various feeders on our deck. You can imagine our surprise, never having seen anything more than the male hummer's U-shaped "swoops", complete with what I call "the Jetson's space vehicle sounds". Those males sound just like the old Jetson cartoon vehicles.

But tonight we saw more. Ohmyheckyoubetcha! Tonight, it was like the gal courting the guy! Now I'd never seen this so it caught me quite off guard. Carma and I were sitting on the rocker on the deck, when just 8 feet away from us, a female BC came flying out from a nearby tree. She approached the deck area (two feeders are roughly 4' off the deck level, just above the railing), as if her Energizer Bunny battery was slowly losing steam. She was slowly losing altitude, nearing the floor level as she approach through the stairway area (inside the railing, not outside). She made several strained attempts to land in between balusters on the lower vinyl rail. It really looked like she was sick or something. She finally landed between balusters....a most unlikely landing spot for a hummer. She sat there for a few moments with her tailed fanned out and wings in an odd, sick-looking position.

Next, she made a straining attempt to rise up from that spot to the top of one of our deck chairs just 6' way from us. She was totally straining, and in fact missed her landing two or three times. I mean, she really looked as if she was dying or something. I wondered about poisoning or bacteria. She finally made her landing, and shortly after, she strained again to make it to the perch of the nearest feeder. Several landing attempts later, she made that landing, again with her tail flared. Very odd behavior.  While she was there, the male made a number of U-shaped dive bombs. He then landed in a nearby tree. Wondering perhaps if she was actually sick, I slowly got up and slowly made my way over to the feeder. She didn't move or even seem to care.....tail still flared. I dipped in closer, getting close enough to see her eye was closed some of the time (about 12" away). Next, I slowly moved a finger to within 1/4" of the bird....close enough that she could have stepped up and used my finger for a perch. Her eyes were both open now. She opened her beak a number of times, not out of any presumed fear or anything. And when I was that close, she still showed no sign of alarm.

I stood there for minutes, and quietly beckoned Carma to come close enough to see the bird well. Finally we both backed away a few feet. Moments later, the lady took off under full power and zoomed back to the nearby tree! Energizer Bunny battery had totally recharged! While standing near her, the male buzzed me real close one time then flew some horizontal patterns back and forth a few feet above me, facing the Aspen tree he was close to.

Next, they both landed on separate feeders and sat for several minutes. The male then took off while she just sat there as if to say "What....was it something I said?" I did not see him return, and it was quite dim by that time. My story is going to be that his girl went for another guy, and he took off in disgust.  :)

Total amazement that a seemingly healthy female would let me walk right over and reach out for a foot shake. I wanted to touch or nudge her just to see her reaction but resisted. A rare treat, and one I'll not forget. I'm chalking this up as one of the amazing birdwatching experiences just outside my backdoor. This Hummer show is right up there tied with watching the Peregrine pluck a rock dove (can I say pigeon?) atop a nearby powerpole just 200' away one Sunday in March 2007.

Cheers,

John

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