Birding!
- Thread starter jjohnwm
- Start date
More American Flamingo photos from today
Glad ya had enough time to get a great pic of the sloth
We have Rubythroats breeding within a couple dozen feet of our windows in summer, but...it's currently -32C! A hummingbird would instantly freeze solid, and probably shatter when it hit the ground. 
I had to re-read your post after first thinking that you had just taken this video.
Rubythroats definitely breed in your area and throughout eastern North America, but perhaps not in your yard. If you don't see them breeding but they appear in your yard later in summer, they're probably just post-breeding individuals who are dispersing more from their nests before leaving in the fall. They typically only nest once per summer, unlike many other species that might nest 2 or even 3 times if the warm season is long enough.
@RD. , it's funny that you mention that. I would say that the past two summers were the best we have had in the 13 years we've been here as well, and far better than we ever had back in Ontario. I'll never retire my hummingbird feeders; sitting on the deck with a cool drink on a hot summer day, watching hummingbirds feeding 2 or 3 feet away, is one of the simple yet wonderful joys of summer.
I had to re-read your post after first thinking that you had just taken this video. Rubythroats definitely breed in your area and throughout eastern North America, but perhaps not in your yard. If you don't see them breeding but they appear in your yard later in summer, they're probably just post-breeding individuals who are dispersing more from their nests before leaving in the fall. They typically only nest once per summer, unlike many other species that might nest 2 or even 3 times if the warm season is long enough.
@RD. , it's funny that you mention that. I would say that the past two summers were the best we have had in the 13 years we've been here as well, and far better than we ever had back in Ontario. I'll never retire my hummingbird feeders; sitting on the deck with a cool drink on a hot summer day, watching hummingbirds feeding 2 or 3 feet away, is one of the simple yet wonderful joys of summer.
While I do not know the species, there is a hummingbird nest about 10 feet outside my living room window. which is very cool. Does anyone know if they tend to return to their nest each year or make a new one?
I really love seeing the pileated woodpeckers that destroy trees in my neighborhood
I really love seeing the pileated woodpeckers that destroy trees in my neighborhood
In your area the hummingbirds would be the same species as the above, i.e. Rubythroated. Their nests are pretty delicate and flimsy, held together basically with spider silk, and made flexible so they expand as the nestlings grow. The nest closest to our deck...which is only about 30 feet away from where we sit, but completely invisible in foliage...falls apart and disappears every year, and then is re-built in the same spot every spring. By the time the young fledge and abandon the nest, it's about twice the size it was when the eggs were laid.