COBirders,
Enjoying the mild fervor of hummingbird migration through Weld County this season. At least a small handful of hummers I've detected over the last few weeks around Milliken/Johnstown. Been out of town, and lazy at home, so late in the game to put up clean, full feeders in Milliken yard. But sure enough, witnessed a hummingbird checking out the red things in the backyard this past weekend, near dusk, so immediately ran out and grabbed the two nectar feeders, quickly scrubbed and filled them, and as soon as I walk outside to hang the first one, a hummingbird zips in to within 5 feet or so. Stood still enough and at close enough range to see that this bird was surely not a Selasphorus, but Archilocus. Spread tail totally lacking any rufous, structurally smaller-tailed than Broad-tailed and different from Selasphoros, different jizz.
Have had two nectar feeders up now for a few days, and thank goodness for the Scarlet Bugler (Penstamon barbatus) we planted this spring which is currently a tower of beautiful red tube type flowers. At least a few different birds in backyard in the last few days, including a fem/imm Broad-tailed (photos), a male Selasphorus type (heard brief distant wing whistle zip by, not enough to tell Broad-tailed vs Rufous/Allen's type whistle), and this fem/imm Archilocus type (photos).
Not going to lie, when the dusk NON-Selasphorus bird zipped in and fed 5-10 feet away last Saturday 18 Aug., it showed a few dark gorget feathers, bordered by a clean white down the sides and rear of gorget area, quite reminiscent of Costa's! But seeing it once or twice again (briefly, I thiiiink it's the same bird as the dusk sighting), and with photos, I do not think it is Costa's. Thinking Black-chinned.
But what of the total dearth of Archilocus for Weld County on eBird??? Until today when I reset the date range on ebird/Weld Co. charts, there was *not a single* July or August record of any Archilocus, or even a spring record! In fact before 3 days ago, Weld County ebird showed only ONE historical report of Archilocus. Refreshed new end-date range from 2017 to 2018 today, and see there is a new blip for BCHU - I think from J. Angstman's ebird submission from 3 days ago. Clearly Weld County needs more hummingbird feeders up, and awareness. Not going on a limb to say that Johnstown/Milliken folk generally are not even aware that hummingbirds exist out here, and according to eBird that goes for the whole county. "There aren't enough trees." etc. But maybe people are starting to notice, partly in help to a new hummer feeder display at work, and some chit-chat and info-sharing with locals. Might have to pass out COBirds / eBird information for my hummingbird customers so they can contribute observations?
Still simply hard to believe there was not a single July or August ebird record of Archilocus for Weld until Angstman's submission three days ago.
Based on range, habitat, data, BCHU is more likely than RTHU in Weld County. Mr. Dave Leatherman documents BCHU nesting in Grandview Cemetary in Fort Collins (Leatherman being one of the greatest assets to Colorado natural history observations in modern history). This bird(s) in Milliken backyard could certainly be Ruby-throated, but until some sunlit gorget reflections or feather structure analysis say otherwise, Black-chinned is the guess.
Surely not nearly as rare as eBird would suggest, but at the same time the near total lack of ebird records of this genus from this county, keep those feeders full and clean and watched!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/26102738@N07/
BTW, any follow-ups on the Black Rails or King Rails at Lower Latham the last several weeks? Haven't been out, but also haven't seen any reports. Would be cool to get pics of BLRA or KIRA fledglings for northern CO.
Good birding,
Derek Hill
Milliken, CO
kinglet32@yahoo.com
derekthehill@hotmail.com
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