Monday, March 24, 2014

Return of the Rufous

We have been watching closely for the return of the Rufous Hummingbirds from their wintering grounds in the tropics. All winter long we have daily had a female Anna’s Hummingbird at out juice feeder. Occasionally we would see a male, and since moving the feeder closer to the window we are able to see the male many times a day.  Yesterday, the long anticipated conflict between the Anna’s and the recently returned Rufous Hummingbirds ramped up into full blown warfare. The male Rufous has staked out a watch point in the neighbors alder tree, and from there can make a dive bomb to our feeder to attack any other users. You can see from the two photos he definitely has an “attitude”, and though smaller than the Anna’s is indeed a fierce competitor. It’s going to be an interesting battle for the territory.  In Elkton it was always won by the Rufous, and the Anna's went elsewhere, here in Salemtowne I hope we can all get along. 
  

1 comment:

  1. Wow, he looks fierce in that bottom photo. Looks like he's in attack mode!

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