The Chuparosa Challenge

Black Chinned Hummer

Oh my gosh, some months are what I'd like to call a "huevo buster"!  Blogging, final exams, summer plans all mixed together. I do enjoy writing and photography, but I love being in the field just as much as the other two.  As I'm finalizing this months work, I'm prepping up my material for June.   I'll be taking you to the Phoenix Comicon and the "Islands of Lake Michigan".  It's more of a historical trip back in time with family and friends.  But I'm also working on another series, inspired by Warren at Pittswood Birds.

Broad Billed Hummer

He suggested in a comment back in April that I find all 16 or 18 hummers around the Tucson area.  But I'm also going to extend it to Wisconsin as well since we'll be visiting there.  I've begun the search already and have spotted 4 of the required hummers.  I even purchased a guide to help me discover where I'd find them all.  It appears the Allen's Hummer may be my biggest challenge.  But maybe not.  My detective skills have gotten sharper.  Again thanks to Warren's encouragement, I was able to track Great Horned Owls and their nests this year.

As I find them, I will post the pictures.  The blog titles will be labeled, "The Chuparosa Challenge-"Insert Hummer Name".  I'm being a little creative here with their name.  I like the word hummingbird, but one of the Spanish names is "La Chuparosa" or "Rose sucker".  It sounds better in Spanish:)

Many of you are fascinated by hummingbirds and don't have them flying around your areas so I thought I'd share these tiny and delicate little birds with you.  Hummers are VERY territorial, smart, and aggressive birds.  I like to think of them as the Chihuahuas of birds:)  But prettier.....

So what have I seen this year?  So far, if you type in hummingbird into my blog search, you'll see captures of a Costa's and Anna's Hummingbird(which are year round at El Presidio).  They nest here and have families in and around our property.  Other hummers I've spotted?

Today, you see two more hummers that I'm adding to the list.  There is the Black-Chinned Hummer.  The blue one with the orange bill is called the Broad Billed Hummingbird.   Both are common around the Tucson area.  The Black-Chinned I have found all around town.  The Broad Billed is in the canyon and lake areas like Madera Canyon or Patagonia Lake.  

Hummingbirds can be difficult to identify.  While I was in Panama, I had a blast filming them in the rain forest.  The hard part, however, comes from distinguishing the blues and greens from each other.  The males and females are very different and many of them can appear similiar.  A birder told me that many times, it comes down to the throat coloring.  Tricky tricky.

The summer brings many of these beautiful birds up to visit.  In a previous post, I had stated that there were 18 hummers here in Southern Arizona, but another birder told me that only 16 were found here.  Briefly I'd like to mention this cool meeting while we were checking up on the resident owl family.  She was trying to find the owlets and I helped her out.  We got to talking some more and hummingbirds came up. She had found them all except for the reclusive Allens.

To conclude, I have yet to find the Plain-capped Starthroat, Green Violet-Ear, Lucifer, Violet-Crowned(this one comes to my garden in June and July), Berylline, Buff-bellied, White-eared, Blue-throated, Magnificent(this one should be easy), Ruby Throated, Calliope, Broad-tailed, Rufous, and Allen's hummingbird.  There have been reports of the Rufous in Florida canyon....a place I have yet to explore.

Stay tuned for more from this series......