Date: 4/25/24 9:40 am From: Brad Sillasen via groups.io <bradstewartsillasen...> Subject: Re: [sbcobirding] New Calliope UCSB + Hummingbird Musings
A male Calliope was foraging in my west Ventura yard March 30-31 2024.
There was also a possible female March 30- Apr 1. Seems like it might
indeed be a good year for these on the coastal plain. including L.A (?),
Orange, and San Diego counties.
On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 9:16 PM Mark Holmgren via groups.io <maholmgren33=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Good question, Alex,
> What happens in SB County is just as likely to be a function of events
> elsewhere as anything that facilitates or constrains birds locally.
> We have seen isolated events along the South Coast that look like
> prolonged staging of, especially, migrants headed for montaine
> breeding habitats. But this appearance of 'staging' is not a regular
> thing. The prolonged abundance of Calliope and Rufous Hummingbirds at low
> elevations may be driven by the unavailability of habitats at higher
> elevations. There is extensive snow this year in the Sierras, I believe.
> Tests of this hypothesis might be
> a) look to see if this staging is occurring also in lowland Ventura and LA
> counties,
> b) ask if this is occurring in other migrant species headed for high or
> higher elevations (Robins, Hammond's Flycatchers, Olive-sided Flycatchers,
> for example)
>
> Mark Holmgren
> San Marcos Pass
>
> On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 2:08 PM Alex Castelein via groups.io
> <alex.castelein...> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I just had a new male Calliope on campus, this time in the bottlebrush
>> row by Student Health.
>>
>> Obviously this is a pretty good year for them, but there’s 2 things that
>> confuse about it, if anyone has any insights:
>>
>> 1- I was under the impression that wet years like this one were worse for
>> Calliopes by the coast, because they have plenty of blooming flowers along
>> their usual migration routes. I’ve heard it suggested that the prolonged
>> cool weather is causing some effect (keeping blooms minimal and/or just
>> keeping the hummingbirds lower elevation where it’s warmer), which could
>> explain the good numbers of Rufous and Black-chinneds so far as well.
>>
>> 2- All reports I’ve seen that have a description or photos are of males.
>> Where are the females? Is it typical for us to get a very skewed ratio?
>> I’ve noticed a similar situation with Black-chinneds, with far fewer
>> reports of females. I’ve personally seen 5 males and only 1 female.
>>
>> I’d love to hear any thoughts/hypotheses people have, especially from the
>> more experienced birders who’ve seen hummer migration play out many years
>> here.
>>
>> The bottlebrushes/eucs also had several western tanagers and a nashville
>> warbler.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Alex Castelein
>> UCSB/Isla Vista
>>
>>
>
>
