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Post by suesann on Nov 24, 2008 23:40:01 GMT -8
Hi Everyone, I am new to this forum and most definitely NOT very accomplished at 'blogging' or 'posting' so I apologize in advance for that!
I am so pleased to find somewhere I can keep in touch with local bird activity... Anyway, it's late and I just wanted to make a quick posting to mention that I have a regular Anna's hummingbird that comes to my feeder several times a day... I have lived in the Fraser Valley for 8 years and have always fed a wide variety of birds (and critters) and it is only today that I have discovered that we have a hummingbird that is resident all year. I had been getting concerned because I thought this little girl had been left behind and should have been on her way south for the winter by now. I have always removed my hummingbird feeders around this time of year, (but not until several weeks have passed without a visitor to the feeder). I live in Abbotsford and I am hoping this little bird is a new addition to my neighborhood because I would hate to think I could have made their winter a little easier these past few years if I had only realized! Can anyone tell me if the Anna's hummingbird a regular winter resident in Abbotsford?
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Post by tmanson on Nov 25, 2008 9:21:35 GMT -8
Suesann: Welcome to the Discussion Forum, and thanks for your interesting post. Anna's Hummingbird is the only northern hummer known to overwinter in its breeding area, which includes S.W. B.C. They are more commonly reported in the Vancouver area, and on Vancouver Island, but increasingly so in the Fraser Valley. A birder in Hope also had one coming to a feeder this summer and, if I am not mistaken a birder near you in Abbotsford, who had a Costa's visiting this spring, also has winter Anna's. You have to wonder how much of this increase is due to the increase of birders/feeders, and this forum, as far as their being reported?? The birds will survive without your feeder, as most hummers use feeders to get a high octane boost as they search their areas for more usual prey. I'm not sure if there has been adequate research done, though, on the relationship between Anna's winter survivability, and the presence of feeders. I would certainly encourage you to keep your feeder up, and filled if, for no other reason, than you will see the bird more often this winter. I know some birders even apply a heat source to their feeders to prevent them from freezing in really cold snaps. Have fun. Thor
Thor Manson Hope, B.C.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2008 17:43:28 GMT -8
Hi, Suesann, and welcome.
There are probably close to a dozen people who have Anna's Hummingbirds coming to feeders in Abbotsford in the winter now. Sherry at the Backyard Birding shop in Abbotsford (604-852-1960) has been keeping track of them for a couple of years, and I know that last year she had a list of half a dozen or more people who notified her. I know of others as well, and we are also fortunate enough to have one, an immature male, coming to our feeder this fall.
Anna's Hummingbirds are resident, not migratory, and their range has been expanding quite dramatically northward up the Pacific coast recently. I don't know of specific research relating to this either, but I think it is rather generally agreed that feeders are a factor in this expansion.
Thor indicates that the birds will survive without your feeder, and this is certainly true of most species of "feeder" birds. It's true also of Rufous Hummingbirds, the more common hummer species we get here. They can easily fend for themselves in warm weather and they spend the winter in warmer climates far to the south.
I agree with Thor but I would be less optimistic than he is on this particular point -- If you have an Anna's coming to your feeder and you stop feeding it at any time during cold winter weather I would hesitate to assume that it will survive okay without your feeder.
In freezing weather, some people use two feeders, bringing one at a time inside to warm up and interchanging them to make sure they don't freeze. Others put a light bulb under the feeder to keep it from freezing.
Yes, it's a bit of a commitment.
Stan Olson Abbotsford
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Post by suesann on Nov 25, 2008 21:35:47 GMT -8
Thank you Thor and Stan for the welcome.
I will be sure to keep the feeders filled and unfrozen this winter. It is a little female who has been visiting each day but today I got a lovely surprise when I spotted a much larger male at the feeder. He was beautiful. I'll try to think of an ingenious way of keeping the feeders unfrozen. A couple of years ago I bought a bird bath 'defroster' from Backyard birding in Abbotsford which works like a dream. It won't be much help for the hummingbird feeders though! I'll give Sherry a call and let her know about my visitors so that she can add them to her records. It's interesting to know that they appear to be wintering further north recently. I can see how the feeders would encourage that but I wonder whether global warming is also playing a part in this change of behaviour. Whatever the reason, they are most welcome in my garden...
Susan Raw Abbotsford
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Post by Gord on Nov 25, 2008 22:44:20 GMT -8
Suesann, welcome! I look forward to seeing your posts as well.
Keep us up to date on how your hummingbirds (and anything else you see and want to share) work out. It's wonderful to hear of so many Anna's locally. Even a couple years ago I would have believed that any concentrations of Anna's Hummingbirds seen in BC would be found in Victoria and a few in Vancouver (Lighthouse Park to be exact). One does have to ask if a warming trend is not at the root of this. Certainly would make sense.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2008 10:28:17 GMT -8
Hi everyone.
We also are first-time hosts of an Anna's Hummingbird at our feeders this fall. The recent discussion of what to do in cold weather got me thinking, because I have heard various things but I have never known for sure what was best to do.
So I emailed both Cam Finlay, the BC founder of the Hummingbird Monitoring Network, a group of organizations that are cooperatively monitoring hummers in BC, Arizona, California, etc., and Roy Teo, the bander with whom I volunteer at the HMN hummer banding station at Widgeon Slough in Coquitlam, for their comments. With permission, I've reproduced their responses (with very minor edits for clarity):
Cam - Those birds depend fully on your feeders for glucose. If the feeders are allowed to remain frozen or not available for more than a couple of days the birds are DEAD. The feeders in winter are the only reason the Anna's remain here in the winter. They obtain the protein and minerals from the spiders and insects but the sucrose that provides energy so they can live comes from feeders when the flowers are frozen up. It is sometimes a challenge to keep feeders going. I use at least one alternate and when one freezes up, I immediately replace it with one kept in the house to be warm. In really cold weather some people put a box with one side open and a lit light bulb in the box beside the feeder to keep it from freezing. If you want to keep your hummers alive, keep that liquid unfrozen or the birds will suffer the consequence. Anna's can drop their core body temperate from 30 degrees Celsius 8 degrees, the most of any animal. Good luck this winter. I have never lost a hummer even when the temp. goes below -10 for a few days. Mind you it keeps me hopping replacing feeders as they freeze up and are immediately replaced with ones from the house. Particularily have a fresh one ready and hung at first light when they need the energy boost after they awake and have a very low core body temp.
Roy - As Cam indicated, local overwintering Annas are largely dependent on feeders for their survival. It is my suspicion that in order for a bird to stick around a specific neighbourhood, there is probably more than one feeder it can rely on. Although there are several possible "natural" sources of glucose I'm not sure if it is sufficient/stable enough to sustain the bird through the winter. Here in the Lower Mainland, I'm observing "high" numbers in the botanical gardens (i.e. Queen Elizabeth Park and VanDusen Gardens), which makes me wonder if non-native flowers also serve as sources of glucose (I'm hoping to examine the possibility this winter). In the literature, sap wells are also mentioned as a source of food. However, I'm not entirely sure if there is any glucose content in the sap, or whether the birds are simply gleaning insects from it. I think feeders represent the most reliable source of glucose for these birds, and are the main reason why they stick around.
Cam is very blunt, whereas Roy is a bit more cautious. I hope this information will be helpful for those of us privileged to host these amazing little gems, especially out here where we expect more sub-freezing weather than at the coast.
Stan Olson Abbotsford
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2008 10:46:31 GMT -8
In case anyone is interested, here's another message Cam sent me with lots of interesting information about Anna's. It was in response to my request to quote his first message on this list.
Stan, go ahead, the more people understand, the better. Did you know that the Anna's originally were from the Baja Peninsula of California and began moving out with crude feeders being put up in the 1910-20 period. They first went to Arizona and later into northern Calif. then Oregon then to Wash. A hummer overwintered in the Oak Bay [Victoria] area in the late 1940's with no one dreaming it was an Anna's, just assuming it was a Rufous. Then the first official Anna's was recorded in Canada in the mid 1950's in the Lake Cowichan area, west of Duncan. They continued to spread with still the main concentration in the Ten Mile Point on the east side of Victoria. Now I estimate that there area at least 500 breeding females in Greater Victoria. Hummingbirds do not pair up like other birds. Each one sets up its own feeding territory. Come nesting time the female independently builds a nest. When she is ready she takes off in search of an ideal male. She finds him and lures him back to her nesting area, and dives into a low bush. The male approaches in front and does a courtship display and then dives in after her and they copulate. Both come out, shake, and the male flies off, never to be seen around her for the rest of that nesting period. The female builds the nest, lays the eggs, incubates, feeds and raises the young and remains with them until they leave. One of the main reasons the population is growing so rapidly is they raise two broods and maybe three. Using colour marking I proved one female raised two broods. I colour marked a female building a nest on March 23. At the same time she was feeding two young (all hummers lay only 2 eggs) that were very tiny with nesting down still on them, sitting right beside each other in a bush about 10 feet away from the second nest. The female continued to feed these fledglings while laying two eggs and beginning to incubate. Each day the fledglings moved farther away, with the mother still feeding them and incubating. Finally the fledglings moved too far way to be located. The mother hatched the two new eggs She raised them for about 10 days when they disappeared, probably taken by a crow as the nest was right on top of an apple tree in the open. Interesting that the second nest was being built at the same time as the female Rufous were arriving and starting to nest. With this background, start looking for nesting females around the end of January, [despite] the cold weather. In the above study the temp dropped at night in that area to about +2 C. Cam
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Post by tmanson on Nov 29, 2008 12:14:23 GMT -8
Stan: Interesting information. If I hung a hummingbird feeder out this time of year, based on your submissions, I would maintain it through the winter season. The National Geographic guide to Birds says this hummer is a permanent resident of the West Coast, and includes the southern portions of Vancouver Island, and the Mainland in this description. In Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion, he says the same thing. I have a contact at the Cornell Lab, and, for fun, it will be intersting to get their hummingbird experts' take on this. Once again, to err on the side of caution, it would seem imperative for those putting out feeders at this time of year, to maintain them through the winter. Cheers. Thor
Thor Manson Hope, B.C.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2008 17:43:07 GMT -8
Yes, Thor, please let us know what the Cornell expert says. I never paid much attention to hummers until I sort of accidentally got into volunteering three years ago. Now I am interested to learn as much as I can about them.
I'm sure Cam and Roy agree that Anna's is a permanent resident here now. I don't think Cam means that without feeders Annas would migrate south. The point is that the range of residency of Anna's has only recently expanded into our area, that this expansion would not have occurred without winter feeders. and that it is only maintained by winter feeders. They do not migrate into and out of our area; they are resident where they are able to survive the winter, usually with our help. Without our help their range would shrink again, unless global warming were to affect our climate enough to allow them to winter without our help. At least that's how I understand Cam and Roy, from working with their network.
Stan
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Post by tmanson on Nov 29, 2008 18:40:50 GMT -8
Stan et al: I don't have any replies from anyone at Cornell at this early stage of communication, but, if you go into the Cornell Ornithological Lab site, it talks about the planting of exotic flowering plants as being the reason this bird now winters from Southern Alaska south. Once again, I would certainly say that, if birders have feeders out now, and Anna's are coming to them, it would be most wise to maintain those feeders. Cheers, Thor
Thor Manson Hope, B.C.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2008 15:35:50 GMT -8
Hi, everyone. This is getting to be a very interesting discussion, for me, at least. It's making me dig deeper and realize afresh that I know almost nothing about hummers (Not that I didn't already know that). From some of the references, apparently Anna's does have some movement patterns that are not yet well understood. One source (Sheri Williamson, Field Guide to Humming birds of North America (Peterson series)) does however state that "Migration is poorly understood; the species certainly does not migrate in the traditional sense."
Another source (Steve Howell, Hummingbirds of North America) states that "In late summer, at least in CA and AZ, there tends to be an upslope movement into the mountains, when flowering there peaks." So Anna's does have some altitudinal migration and must use native flowers to some extent as well as exotic flowers in their expanded range also.
I think I need to clarify some of the statements I made in previous posts. I wasn't at all saying that Anna's ONLY feeds on feeders here, nor would Roy or Cam say that.
Certainly the literature is clear that the increase of exotic plants as a result of urbanization was the primary reason for the expansion of Anna's range beyond S California and up the west coast of the US in the 20th century. Feeders may have played a minor part, but not a major part.
However, sub-freezing temperatures were not a factor for this expansion of Anna's hummers until much more recently when their range reached our part of the coast. Here also, as further south, they feed on exotic plants, sap, insects and arachnids, etc., but when the temperature drops below freezing for any length of time, their only source of sucrose, which they need, is feeders. It is in that sense that their survival here IS dependent on availability of feeders in freezing weather, although not only on feeders, of course.
This would apply anywhere they try to expand where sub-freezing temperatures of any significant length are encountered. The statements by Cam and Roy must be taken in the context of the question I asked them, which related to feeding Anna's in freezing weather.
I remain puzzled about the use in most of the references of "breeding range" as opposed to "wintering range." Since Anna's breed through the traditional ornithological winter (Dec to Feb), how can references show breeding ranges contrasting with winter ranges? Howell states that Anna's "main nesting season is December through June, averaging earlier southwards, (e.g., from mid October in Arizona)." On that basis, nesting range should include wintering range for most areas, no?.
Lots more questions but this is too long already.
Stan
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Post by Gord on Dec 2, 2008 15:01:38 GMT -8
What a wealth of information and knowledge here! Thanks to all who shared.
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Post by Susan on Dec 3, 2008 18:54:51 GMT -8
Wow! I've certainly learned a lot! Thanks for all the info. I'll make sure my hummers have a ready supply of 'fuel' all winter! With regards to them being territorial: I think I may have at least 3 hummers visiting my feeders, never together though. I just wondered if that is possible? I am sure I have a large male whos plumage is perfect and very vivid, and a smaller male who is not as colorful (maybe a young male??), and a female who visit daily.
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Post by suesann on Dec 3, 2008 18:57:00 GMT -8
OOOps... I told you I wasn't very good at this 'posting' thing! I hadn't realized that I wasn't signed in and my posting was marked as being a guest posting... anyway.. I think I have it right this time -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wow! I've certainly learned a lot! Thanks for all the info. I'll make sure my hummers have a ready supply of 'fuel' all winter! With regards to them being territorial: I think I may have at least 3 hummers visiting my feeders, never together though. I just wondered if that is possible? I am sure I have a large male whos plumage is perfect and very vivid, and a smaller male who is not as colorful (maybe a young male??), and a female who visit daily.
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Post by tmanson on Dec 14, 2008 16:02:34 GMT -8
Hi all: First of all, I don't want to bury Susan's request for id help on her new hummingbird at her feeder, and certainly encourage readers to tune in to her recent posts, including photos. With this recent cold snap that we are all immersed in, there is an interesting thread on Tweeter's, one of the Washington State birding listserves, that discusses how to keep hummingbird feeders operational for Anna's Hummingbird. There were some good ideas there, that bear repeating here. One birder suggested adding a few drops of vodka to the feeder to stop it from freezing- joke!! In a more practical vein, here are a few suggestions that worked for the individual posters. 1) Invest in a suction cup feeder that sticks to your window. Enough heat radiates through to keep the feeder thawed. 2) Tape a handwarmer to the feeder. This will provide enough heat for about 8 hours, which is about all the daylight we receive these days, anyway. 3) String red Christmas lights around the feeder. The other suggestions were ones already discussed, like having more than one feeder prepared- one inside that can be exchanged for the freezing feeder outside as needed. Also, using a variety of heat sources, as above, to keep the feeder from freezing. Several Tweeters posters noted that they were getting Anna's Hummingbirds for the first time this season, which suggests, as already noted, that they are expanding their range in greater numbers. Good hummingbird watching, and feel some empathy for we Christmas bird counters that will be out tomorrow in a minus 24 degree wind chill!! Cheers, Thor
Thor Manson Hope, B.C.
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