Wordless Wednesday–Wings on Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday-Wings on Wednesday

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Watch This Space, an Update

A short ten days ago I posted a piece called Watch This Space. If you follow the link, you will find tiny, newly hatched hummingbirds in the nest. I admit that I was negligent in following up on the chicks’ progress. Eleven days after I took those photos I had lunch with Jill, who mentioned that I should come by her house because the tiny birds were now about to fledge. I went to her house yesterday evening, and one of the chicks had already fledged, leaving one still in the nest. I was fortunate to get photos of the remaining chick.

Black-chinned Hummingbird chick

Black-chinned Hummingbird chick, a closer view.

Black-chinned Hummingbird chick, even closer.

Update: Jill called me today, August 18th, and said that she watched the chick fledge at about 10:00 a.m. today.

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Hummingbirds at Sandia Crest–Part II

Yesterday I posted photos of individual hummingbirds at Sandia Crest. Those photos, however, do not begin to show the large numbers of hummingbirds that were at the feeders. Here are a few group photos:

I took this short video of the hummingbirds skirmishes at the feeders. I hope you enjoy it.

I hope to do one more blog post on this trip to Sandia Crest which will show the lovely scenery and views from the area.

Update: I have posted photos and commentary on my walk up to Sandia Crest on my Photo Flurries blog.

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Hummingbirds at Sandia Crest–Part I

Recently Bosque Bill and I drove to Sandia Crest to enjoy the scenery, the wildflowers and the birds that are in the area. Sandia Crest rises to 10,600 feet above the Rio Grande Valley below, and it is an easy one-hour drive from my house in Corrales. There were fewer wildflowers than we saw last year, undoubtedly because of the lack of rainfall. The hummingbirds, however, were out in force. There were Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Rufous Hummingbirds and a Calliope or two, although I did not get any photos of the Calliopes. Almost all of the birds that we saw were females. The males have probably already begun their migration south.

Female Broad-tailed Hummingbird

A kerfuffle amongst the ladies.

Incoming female Rufous Hummingbirds

Female Rufous Hummingbird

These single photos do not begin to show the numbers of birds at the feeders and how active the birds are. I will show those in my next post.

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Watch This Space

My friend Jill called me this weekend to say that she has a hummingbird nest with baby hummingbirds at her house. I went over to see them and found the nest in a Chinese pistache tree. The nest is a bit smaller than a golf ball.

Black-chinned Hummingbird nest

A closer look revealed two tiny hummingbird chicks in the nest.

Black-chinned Hummingbird chicks

On the way home I saw these beautiful lilies. They have nothing to do with a post about hummingbird chicks, but they were lovely!

Lilies, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque

If the hummingbird chicks thrive I will be posting periodic updates of their progress. Watch this space.

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