As summer gives way to fall, the birds of summer have left us once again.
One of the Sunshine Coast’s favourite summer birds is the rufous hummingbird, which begins to arrive here as early as mid-March, reliably after March 21, and in a mini tsunami in early April.
By Aug. 25, almost all rufous hummers have departed for their winter quarters in Mexico. Winters on the Sunshine Coast use to be bereft of hummingbirds, but no longer! These days we have a permanent resident hummer that stays with us all year, Anna’s hummingbird.
Anna’s are fractionally bigger than rufous and the male birds have a flaming magenta or pink gorget rather than the golden orange one of rufous hummingbird. The back of Anna’s is green where rufous hummer has a reddish back (from which it takes its name) and the underparts are a dingy gray rather than whitish.
Anna’s are with us year-round on the Coast but they seem largely inconspicuous in the summertime when our feeders are dominated by rufous hummers. Both species are belligerent around feeders but seemingly the smaller rufous can dominate Anna’s.
Until the 1930s Anna’s was confined to Oregon and south, but from the ‘40s to the ‘60s, it began a northward extension to Victoria and then Vancouver in the late 1950s. The first record on the Sunshine Coast was in 1972 when Irene Carson in West Sechelt had wintering Anna’s at her feeders. Then for many years the species seemed confined to Mrs. Robertson’s feeders on a lane in Lower Gibsons.
In the ‘90s and up to 2006 there were always a few Anna’s scattered at various feeders around our area. However, in 2006 there was a spike in numbers that seems to be on an unrelenting upward trend. Part of this is more awareness and reporting of Anna’s. In the last few years I have made an effort through this column to tally the number of mid-winter Anna’s for the annual Christmas bird count, and the numbers are astonishing. Last year there were over 250 birds reported in mid-December.
Anna’s are very hardy birds that can withstand cold temperatures. If you chose to leave your feeder out over winter, it is advisable to take it inside overnight if we get freezing weather and put it out again in the morning. The sugar should also be boosted to about 1:3, which will help fuel the hummers and lowers the freezing point.
To ask questions or report sightings, email tony@whiskeyjacknaturetours.com
