The Chuparosa Challenge-Tales From Abroad

Let's start off with the Magnificent Hummer.    Again, everytime I go out on my quests, people ooo and ahhh at this particular hummingbird:)  Today's adventure takes us to the top of Mt. Lemmon near Ski Valley.  I was searching for the Broad Tailed Hummer. 

So I followed this tame raven to the Iron Door tavern after a long hike in the woods.  This raven was raised by humans after the fires and is one of two that you'll find around this place.  They are very healthy and happy:) One of the hummingbirds that has eluded me has been the Broad Tailed Hummingbird.

I don't know why because they are quite common.  But I've been discovering that each canyon, each mountain top sports different hummingbirds and that has been a really interesting observation about these little adventures.  Case in point.  I started noticing a different type of female hummingbird in the woods.  I do not joke when I say they hover right in front of me.  I start noticing different sounds, different flight patterns and different patterns on the gorget.   That's when I knew I was in the right spot.   It's hard to describe the noise or flight patterns of a hummer.  But if you recognize their vocalizations, you'll notice the variety of sounds that they can make. 

But let's examine the female first.  In the pic above, you might notice the "striping" on the gorget.  There's also a little brown/yellow on the side of the wing.  This tipped me off that I was dealing with a different female hummer from the rest that I have observed on my trips.

The male Broad Tailed Hummingbird looks a lot like the Ruby Throated Hummingbird back east.  It's gorget will appear dark or black when it's not "flashing":)  What do I mean by this?  Look at the pic below of the Magnificent Hummer.  Notice how the gorget(throat) shines a blue color?  When it's not the pretty blue color, it's a dark black color.  So I was hoping that the male Broad Tailed Hummer would "flash" for me.   The results were incredible.  During this shoot, I was able to go alone and focus on the photography bit without having to entertain people.

There were warning signs that something was "going down".  Their territorial calls come first and then the swoop and attack.  The male Broad Tailed hummer would usually chase off the Magnificent.  The females would come in first and then.....

......I would wait:)  And wait:) And wait......:)

My first shot was by accident.  Here is the very quick male Broad Billed Hummer.  He wasn't really into the feeders on this day so I had to locate where he was perching.  And that is where I'd get the best pictures.

Here(below) we can see the BT flashing his gorget.  Pretty little hummer.

Many of you have wondered how big some of these birds get.  I needed perspective and here is a simple branch with the BT on it.  You can see how small these tiny birds are.  And as a photographer, I love this series of pictures.

The key is listening for their chirps and whirrrrrs.  I was able to locate the male easily by tracking his flight patterns and keeping my ears open.

I was just amazed how territorial this little guy was with the male Magnificent Hummers.  They're much larger.  How does this little guy get away with chasing the big guys off?:)

And I saved my favorite picture for the last part of this post today.  If you go out and search for hummers, remember there are 2 "Broad" titled hummingbirds.  I often, in my excitement, mix their names up.  There is the Broad Billed Hummer which is an incredible blue color and orange bill and then there is this guy below....the Broad Tailed Hummer.  My search continues.  I've had some difficulty with the monsoon rains creating terrible road conditions on the canyon roads.  Many of the roads are muddy and not accessible by car.   I'll be sticking to paved roads for now and hopefully I'll find some of the more elusive hummers out there.  Stay tuned for more.... PS. Warren I have a stats post coming up for you with the list, etc of hummingbirds spotted including where I found them.