07-02-2024, 03:50 PM
This afternoon, my first southbound migrating Rufous Hummingbird of the season showed up at our feeders. I'm a bit late though because a close neighbor saw their first on June 28. Over the next two months, thousands of Rufous will move through our area. The hummer activity is really picking up now as the Broad-tailed females are feeding young in the nests, and competition with the Rufous will stir the scene to a crescendo.
I just returned from a two-week project in Sedona where my team began a long awaited study to confirm nesting of Rivoli's Hummingbird in Oak Creek Canyon. We were delighted to capture 3 females in breeding condition, but we want to gather more evidence later this month, and next year. Working with 3 beginning hummingbird banders and several volunteers, we also caught Anna's, Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, and recaptured a single male Costa's that we banded at the Sedona Hummingbird Festival in July 2023. Costa's were largely unknown in Sedona until we began catching them a few years ago. We now believe that small numbers of Costa's are breeding there in an expanding population due to climate change.
Rivoli's Hummingbirds are native to Mexico and SE AZ. They are known to pioneer in more northern mountain areas, and individuals have nested in CO during some years. There are 25 accepted records in Colorado, including the 2014 female I banded in Coal Creek Canyon, Boulder County. We could see them here anytime from April thru November.
The Costa's Hummingbird is a tiny desert bird generally found from Phoenix into Mexico. There are 9 accepted records for Colorado including one banded at the CSU Pingree Park environmental center on the north end of Rocky Mountain National Park. I banded 3 female Costa's wintering in Grand Junction. While likely to be more rare here than Rivoli's, birds have wings and can show up most anytime.
Rivoli's are a large hummingbird, about twice the mass of our local Broad-tailed, and 3 times the mass of the Costa's and our southbound Calliope. For comparison, here is the male Costa's, and a female Rivoli's in the hand of one of our site hosts as it is being released.
I just returned from a two-week project in Sedona where my team began a long awaited study to confirm nesting of Rivoli's Hummingbird in Oak Creek Canyon. We were delighted to capture 3 females in breeding condition, but we want to gather more evidence later this month, and next year. Working with 3 beginning hummingbird banders and several volunteers, we also caught Anna's, Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, and recaptured a single male Costa's that we banded at the Sedona Hummingbird Festival in July 2023. Costa's were largely unknown in Sedona until we began catching them a few years ago. We now believe that small numbers of Costa's are breeding there in an expanding population due to climate change.
Rivoli's Hummingbirds are native to Mexico and SE AZ. They are known to pioneer in more northern mountain areas, and individuals have nested in CO during some years. There are 25 accepted records in Colorado, including the 2014 female I banded in Coal Creek Canyon, Boulder County. We could see them here anytime from April thru November.
The Costa's Hummingbird is a tiny desert bird generally found from Phoenix into Mexico. There are 9 accepted records for Colorado including one banded at the CSU Pingree Park environmental center on the north end of Rocky Mountain National Park. I banded 3 female Costa's wintering in Grand Junction. While likely to be more rare here than Rivoli's, birds have wings and can show up most anytime.
Rivoli's are a large hummingbird, about twice the mass of our local Broad-tailed, and 3 times the mass of the Costa's and our southbound Calliope. For comparison, here is the male Costa's, and a female Rivoli's in the hand of one of our site hosts as it is being released.