Birding in Maine» hummingbirds

Wordless Wednesday: Ruby-throated Hummingbird

John Briggs — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:06:11 +0000

The following image is tall. Tap your f11 key to open your browser to its fullest size before viewing. Simply click the thumbnail for a full-sized view.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird | Click thumbnail for larger view

Get Wordless over at Wordless Wednesday.

Hummingbird Preening

John Briggs — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:59:56 +0000

This little jewel loves to perch on the very tip of one of our feeder branches and sits there looking pretty. She is only 6″ from a fresh supply of nectar. With the Hummingbird activity around our feeders this past week, she gets harassed on occasion. I was able to capture this female Ruby-throated Hummingbird preening during a break in the activity.

Once the video has started, clicking on the video will take you to You Tube where the video is hosted. Once on the You Tube site, clicking the HD icon will place the video in HD widescreen mode, which is the best playback.

Dimension: 520×390 | Video length: 1:17
Playback: Click Play Button | Broadband Connection Recommended
Streaming HD Video of Hummingbird Preening | ©2009 birdingmaine.com

Happy birding!

Hummingbirds and Cardinals

John Briggs — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:19:52 +0000

Ruby-throated Hummingbird | Click photo for larger view

Hummingbird migration is underway here along the midcoastof Maine. Since the beginning of the week, Ruby-throated Hummingbird activity has increased 3 fold. My estimates put the yard population of these jewels at 20 individuals which include the 3 nesting pairs who have been around all summer, their young and others coming through to fatten up on nectar. (One of the nesting pair had a nest failure.)

With 10 nectar feeders spread throughout our yard there are still issues. As soon as a hummer lands on a feeder, others descend onto the offender from the trees and shrubs and the chattering and chasing begins.

There are times when I have been in the yard refilling feeders and feared getting run over by these little rockets. They want nothing at their feeders, yours truly included. Sitting on the back deck has become a lesson in the art of dodging these buzzing beauties.

Hummingbirds are not the easiest birds to photograph. Ideally, you would like the bird to land on a natural perch but this is not always the case. Lately I have been using my HD camcorder to capture video of Hummingbirds.

While in the yard Tuesday, a recently fledged female Northern Cardinal was sitting in a shrub looking as if it was lost to the world. The poor soul looked around as if looking for it’s mother. Occasionally, it’s beak would open as if it was saying “Mama… where are you?”

I am shooting plenty of video of the Hummingbirds that are visiting our yard. I hope to have a compilation ready in a week or two. In the mean time, I put together the following HD video.

The first part of this video highlights a Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding at one of our nectar feeders. The second part captures a juvenile female Northern Cardinal. For a wide screen view, click the video to go to the You Tube page that it’s hosted on. Once there, clicking on the HD icon will put the video in wide-screen mode.

Enjoy!

Happy birding!

Wordless Wednesday: Ruby-throated Hummingbird

John Briggs — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:49:03 +0000

Ruby-throated Hummingbird | Click photo for larger view

Get Wordless over at Wordless Wednesday.

Wordless Wednesday: Rear View Opsrey

T.S. Hanna Aftermath

John Briggs — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:37:49 +0000

New England survived the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna last night. Here at home, we received 5.80″ of rain in under ten hours and had a high wind gust of 31 m.p.h. The highest rainfall amount locally that I heard about was 6.92″ in Gray, Maine. At times last night, the torrential downpours woke me up but no lightning or thunder was observed.

I took a ride this morning to Popham Beach State Park. Several low lying areas had water across the road, a few branches and limbs were down and light beach erosion was evident at the park. We have a new pond beside our driveway, but it is receding nicely.

The birds seemed to fare well here at home. Hummingbirds and juvenile American Goldfinches were at the feeders before the sun came up this morning. Eleven Green-Winged Teals with 2 Blue-Winged Teals mixed in were observed this morning in the river just off our back yard.

Down at Popham Beach, not much activity was observed. A few Dunlin and a smattering of Semipalmated Plovers were feeding on the exposed flats. A lone Osprey was seen hovering near the Seguin Island Lighthouse and several Double-Crested Cormorants were seen toward the Morris River. We had a juvenile Herring Gull follow us around like a puppy while we were on the beach.

All in all not a devastating storm except for a few flooded roads and basements.

The view early this morning from Popham Beach State Park:

Happy birding!