Immature Ruby-throated Hummingbird drops by: Regina, SK

Ruby-throated Hummingbird resting in the lilac trees between feedings. © SB

I was planning to put away the hummingbird feeder when I saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird buzz by it. So I refilled it with fresh sugar water, and have been told to continue doing so for several weeks yet. Hummingbirds may be migrating, but they are not yet gone — and there are often strays that arrive later in the fall looking for sustenance.

At first, I thought the Ruby-throated Hummingbird we saw throughout the day yesterday and the one that's been busy here today was a female, because its throat is quite pale. On a closer view, though, there are a fair number of dark speckles on her/his throat, which makes it more likely that this is an immature male...

Unless, of course, there are two birds taking turns in our yard? But I think it's just that with feather colours, so much depends on the light.

This Ruby-throated Hummingbird has me trained - I see it, I fill the feeder.  © SB  

I think this is the same bird - it's possible it's not, as this was taken yesterday,
and the ones above were taken today. The light was different, which affects colour. © SB

A front view, yesterday's Ruby-throated Hummingbird, resting.  © SB

Another look at the feathers of today's Ruby-throated Hummingbird. © SB 

  

What is this? An immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Colibri à gorge rubis
Location: Backyard, Regina, Saskatchewan
Photo date: September 8, 2016.

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Ruby-throated Hummingbirds migrating though Regina, SK

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, in my Regina, SK, backyard.  © SB

We were lucky again this year to see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in our Regina, SK, backyard — and yes, we did see one, but only one! (So far? Will more come? The feeders are ready...)

This year's Hummingbird was a mature male, with a red throat that looks dark brown here, because of the angle of the light. Had I caught him on my sensor facing towards the sun, it would have glistened like, well, some would say, a bright ruby.

He arrived in the garden in the early morning, fed from cosmos and petunia flowers for a while, and then veered off over the trees, not to be seen again.

Last year, we had our first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and all were juvenile males, with only faint streaking on their throats. I'd like to think that this week's bird was one of those hummingbirds, come back again to visit on its way south.

Another view of the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, showing his throat.
(Really! This was red in the sunlight!)
In my Regina, SK, backyard.  © SB

I just wish it would have stayed longer!

Ah well. Maybe next year. (And maybe more will show up this year, too...)


What is this? A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Colibri à gorge rubis
Location: Backyard, Regina, Saskatchewan
Photo date: Regina: August 13, 2016.

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Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in Regina, Saskatchewan (and Quebec)

Juvenile male (from the faint black throat streaking)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird at our hanging basket
Regina, Saskatchewan.  © SB

I've long known there were Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in Saskatchewan.

I used to see hummingbirds, with wonder, at an aunt's farm and small-town backyard, when I was a child.

But I have never been lucky enough to see Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in my own Regina backyard...

Until last week, when a Ruby-throated Hummingbird — a juvenile male, I think — started visiting to feed from our hanging basket of small red petunia flowers.

This lovely hummingbird, with faint dark streaking on its throat, has visited at varying times of day ever since.

Young Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding from petunias, Regina, SK. © SB

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, more clearly showing feathers
and the beginnings of throat markings. Regina, Saskatchewan. © SB

Perhaps because I lived in the Caribbean as a child, I consider Ruby-throated Hummingbirds — and all hummingbirds — to be tropical birds. So my delight at seeing them here, in the high Canadian prairies, is mixed with awe. They seem out of place, and yet Saskatchewan is where they belong, one of the places where each summer, they breed. 

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds also breed in Quebec, where I saw several a few weeks ago. 

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird,
in the Laurentians, Quebec. © SB

The map of the Ruby-throated hummingbird's migration is interesting, because it swings up the Eastern U.S. into Quebec and Ontario, and then flows west across Canada to the Rocky Mountains. If we lived in the neighbouring states to the south of Saskatchewan, we'd be lucky to see, if any, stray hummingbirds blown of course during migration. Or more likely — in my case, at least — none at all. 

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird preparing to feed
at the Sapsucker tree, his throat bright in the sun.
(The drilled holes are a source of sweet sap and insects.) Quebec © SB 

Earlier this summer, we spent some time at an old cabin on a lake in the Laurentians in Quebec. Ruby-throated Hummingbird would hover beside our cabin feeder, feed from the local Yellow-bellied Sapsucker tree, flirt in the woods, and pose on bare branches beside the dock. 

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds playing at the mating dance.
(The male is at right, middle and lower, and out of sight, top.
His iridescent red throat feathers look brown in shadow
and only light up in the sun).  Quebec.  © SB

I was so happy to see the hummingbirds at the cabin in Quebec, and never thought I would see them again this summer — in my own Regina, SK, backyard!


What are these? Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
Location: With flowers, in Backyard, Regina, Saskatchewan; posing, feeding and dancing in the trees, near a cabin in the Laurentians, Quebec. 
Photo dates: Regina: August 20, 2015; Quebec: July 26 and 30, and August 1, 2015. 

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