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| This year's crew |
That's what my daughter called them, until she grew worldly and wise at the age of 6. The great hummingbird migration is in full swing around here. Birds are, for the most part, flying south for the winter. There are always a few that stick around, so we try to keep our feeders clean and full all year.
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| NOT a Red-Necked Hummingbird! Those are something else entirely! |
These photographs were taken with the
Wingscapes Birdcam, a wonderful toy I got for Christmas three years ago. Otherwise, I'd never have been able to capture them. We mostly have Ruby-Throated, Rufous and Black-Chinned Hummingbirds, but one year we had what we think was a Buff-Bellied Hummingbird hang around for months.
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| October 2007 |
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| October 2007 |
If you don't have hummingbirds in your backyard, visit the
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory's Hummingbird Xtravaganza Open House. You can learn about hummingbirds, watch banding operations, walk the nature trails and more. Note to plant geeks: the nature trails provide a great opportunity to stroll through the late summer flora in a relatively peaceful fashion. The Xtravaganza Open House is September 11 and September 18 from 8:00 am to noon. Here's a
map to their place in Lake Jackson.
Watch this short video to the very end to catch the bright red flash of this hummingbird's throat!
Tell your daughter we have honey-birds. Similar to the sun-birds which are very like your humming-birds. But the honey-birds are larger, greyish-brown with yellow 'hips' and the male has a VERY LONG tail.
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