On Tue, Aug 19, 2025, 6:50 PM Mag Tait <magtait1...><mailto:<magtait1...>> wrote:
Definitely going through a lot of nectar here in Hamburg with lots of chirping and aerial acrobatics. I love this time of year.
I just had a conversation that ended with my being declared wrong with a neighbor who said she saw a larger hummingbird at her feeder that definitely wasn’t a ruby throated because it didn’t have a red throat and was larger than the ruby throated she had seen near it.
I told her that while it is possible that she saw a different species, it would be a rarity, etc., etc. and that it was likely a female and then just gave up.
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 19, 2025, at 6:12 PM, Allen Chartier <amazilia3...><mailto:<amazilia3...>> wrote:
Hopefully you keep your hummingbird feeders out of reach, as bears will go after them too.
On Tue, Aug 19, 2025, 2:57 PM Dody Wyman <dody...><mailto:<dody...>> wrote:
Thank you Allen! I totally misjudged how much the young look like adult females. I know they have a long way to go from here, and they are obviously tanking up at every opportunity.
As an aside, we don’t feed any other songbirds here because we don’t want to attract the bears. So the hummers give us great pleasure to watch and listen to!
Dody
On Aug 19, 2025, at 2:20 PM, Allen Chartier <amazilia3...><mailto:<amazilia3...>> wrote:
Dody,
Young male and young female hummingbirds look like adult females, and are surely in the mix. Adult males leave the UP by Labor Day and probably sooner from the Keweenaw.
On Tue, Aug 19, 2025, 11:54 AM Dody Wyman <dody...><mailto:<dody...>> wrote:
Speaking of hummingbirds, we are at our cabin on Lake Superior in the Keweenaw Peninsula. I have three hummer feeders, fill them about once every day, and have anywhere between 7 and 15 or so at one time arguing over them. They are all females… Is this because the males have gotten a head start south? It’s an amazing sight to watch. Starts at dawn and goes well into dusk most days.
Dody
On Aug 19, 2025, at 6:13 AM, Fred Kaluza <fkaluza...><mailto:<fkaluza...>> wrote:
A couple days ago I heard the very distinctive call of a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo nearby and it made me remember I’d heard this before in other places in Michigan but always at this time of year. I was not able to spot the bird and it’s call was too faint for Merlin (on my phone) or my Birdweather PUC to capture. Is August noted for post-fledge dispersal or are these birds engaged in some kind of migratory or pre-migratory or territorial establishment behavior at this time of year? Secondly, I’ve been outdoors enough lately to be treated to the Ruby-Throated air show. Just putzing around the yard while the Hummingbirds engage in aerial combat or warfare or mating when they come within a foot of my head and do whatever they do to make their feathers rattle. In all cases it seems one is pursuing another at high speed and it seems the sound produced is quite intentional. For modelers, I’m wondering what “scale speeds” they move at and how many “G” forces they subject themselves to?
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