A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Female hummer for Diane

Just caught this hummingbird at my feeder tonight.
We only get Ruby Throated hummingbirds here.

I also have a few more pictures to go through after dinner and will post them if they came out ok - it's really hard catching these birds - they are soooooooo fast!

Lynne---great Photo !!

Very good photo..
One way to do it , dont let them see you stand very still.

You have a UFO feeder! I LOVE those!

great photo!
interesting....what I've been calling a ruby red throat has a red ring around it and is pretty much black on the back? (...and has some white here and there)

Thorn is she discribing the red neck hummer?

Cricket - the male ruby throated has the red on the throat.

Here is a picture of a male at the feeder tonight - not as clear, sorry!


And he turned around to look at me with his head up and you can really see the red!


Thorny - this is the only kind of hummingbird feeder I will use - I have the smaller one in the front of the house. All the others I've tried have leaked terribly!

Oh, ok. so the males....like other birds (duh) are more brightly colored. yep! that is more of what my 'ruby's' look like. although I still see alot of green on the back? is there a hummer with the same red and white pattern, but black on the back? (I'm a newbie to bird watching)

The irridescent feathers on a hummer OFTEN look black, ESPECIALLY the red throats of the male Ruby-Throated, until the PERFECT angle of light hit them. Then they turn a BRILLIANT, laser-like red and green. Female Ruby-Throats ALWAYS have a white throat.

Cricket, in Texas you have TWO species of hummers. The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird AND the Black-Chinned Hummingbird. In Tennessee, where I live, and MUCH of the East, we only have the Ruby-Throated. Occasionally, in Winter, we get a FEW West-Coast Hummingbirds that Winter over in the East IF they can get enouh food. The most common of these rare Winter Hummingbirds, are the Rufous Hummingbirds. I have seen ONE Rufous, a male, here in Tennessee, in twenty years of birding.

i'm gonna google up the black chinned hummer in the morning. thanks thorny!
sorry guys.......did I high jack?

We always get back on the subject cricket, don't worry.

Cool pics Lynne. I always wondered how they drink from those. I figured it would have to be kept full all the time, duh...I never realized they tip it when they land on it causing the nectar to flow to them You learn something new every day.

Thorn knows his stuff..

I know my cows.......

Cricket - no worries about hijacking - it's all about hummers anyway.

Tamara - the only reason it's leaning like that is that the hanger is a bit crooked. They do not need to tip the feeder - their tongues are extremely long - it's amazing when you can see it all the way out - WOW!!!

by the way... the reason it's a bit crooked is that the @#$% squirrels have figured out that if THEY tip it they can get a drink of the sweet nectar!!! Is there NOTHING that will stop them?!?!?!?

Tongue???????????
Watched them all summer I saw not tongue.......Help thorn......no tounger here.

b

Yes, they have amazing tongues......ALL birds do. I DON'T have a picture of a Hummingbird tongue, but I DO have a picture of a WOODPECKER'S tongue; a female Northern Flicker to be exact. It is VERY similar in length and size to a Hummingbird's tongue.


FEMALE NORTHERN FLICKER'S TONGUE

How ugly the tongue is .....eek

glad I dont see the tongue..
Thanks thorn ........knew you could do it ..

Master of birds

wow! talk about timing. that's an amazing shot.
I got a peek a while back at a wren's tounge. he was sitting just outside the window. there must have been some kind of glare and he couldn't see us. I watched the little guy snatch gnats (I'm guessing) out of the air. it looked just as long and freaky as the pic above.

WOW Thorny - that picture is amazing!!!

I didn't take that picture. One of my bird photographer buddies did.

good grief!!

oHHHHHHH WOW Lynne Those are good pictures,, I DID see a humming bird yesterday,, I was soooooooo excited,, Thankyou for posting your pictures for me to see,,,,,

You asked about a Hummer tongue? Today I was photographing my hummer and she gave me the razzberry. It's not REAL clear but if you look you can see the Hummer tongue looking like a thread coming out of the bill.


PFFFFFT!!!!

Is the hummer tongue grey????
I can see it on both.

Now look who dropped by for Lunch........

Yes, it IS gray.

I LOVE watching Goldfinches eating seed out of the flower heads. They've already stripped my flower heads.

They just started mine..Stripping.
It got out of there fast when it seen me....

They are the cutest.

That is a SUPERB Goldfinch picture. You ought to submit that to picli dot com. You can win awards and get worldwide acclaim. I won an award there this spring for one of my bird photos.