Snowy Hummingbird, Boulder County

[Tom Wilberding]

Hello birders,

Saw the amazing hummer today at 7 am on Adam Jack’s snowy deck, my second try after she took a powder for four hours last Sunday. Thanks to Adam for his directions, tips, generous hospitality, and for being such a talented observer of wildlife, to be able to discover this obscure hummingbird in the first place. Adam and his wife have a spectacular mountain home and deck. Saw two Golden Eagles fly over the ridge to the east, one motionless for the longest time, tacked to the sky. Adam mentioned that Gross Dam Road and Flagstaff Road are open on the weekend, so I took the scenic route home, stopping at Gross Reservoir and hiking the sunny 5.2 mile Myer’s Gulch Trail.

Will our doughty hummer end up like explorer Roald Amundsen, first to the South Pole, or his unlucky rival, Robert Falcon Scott, never to return to warmer climes? In either case she has earned the name  Magnificent, “doing great deeds.”

She is also pretty patient with that Hairy Woodpecker who acts like a sapsucker, lapping up her sugar water. While he was on her feeder, she flew behind him and hovered, as if to say, “Get off my feeder, Peckerwood!” Then she flew to the center of the deck and stared at me, as if to ask, “Why don’t you get up and scare him off my feeder?” I didn’t move. They had to work it out.

Four photos: http://bit.ly/1skUq5X  

Cheers!
Tom Wilberding
Boulder, CO