It doesn't seem to matter to this Broad Tailed Hummingbird that it's snowing and snow has collected on the feeder--he still needs lots of energy. The males have shown up in town and are setting up their territories. I have been watching three of them fighting over the feeder. Come on guys, there are lots of places to sit and eat around the table. The females will show up soon. The Broad Tails are probably my favorite variety because of the whirring sound they make when they fly--you always know when they are in the vicinity. The other hummingbird species that frequent Colorado don't make that sound.
This finch thinks he's a hummingbird. I have seen him landing on the feeder and pecking around a number of times. Summer is a great time for birdwatching in the Colorado front range. Everything from wild turkeys, raptors, and water birds, to songbirds. Many of them birds that I have never seen in Texas, but some that I see in Texas in the winter are here in the summer.
This morning I watched a hummingbird flying parabolas out in the yard. He would fly straight up and then straight down, but pull out of the dive maybe 6 feet from the ground. Then I noticed that there was a second one sitting on top of a shrub near the low point of his flight path. I think he was trying to scare that one away. These little guys are the only birds that can even fly backwards. Sometimes, I have also seen them fly up to the window while I sit typing on the computer. They will just stare in the window for a few seconds and then fly away. But this means they are very close to me--really cool!!
