Gooseville, WI
Sept. 18
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place for the community to note any observations they have made of the natural world around them. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns of the outdoors that are quietly unfolding around us.
A young female perches in the blue spruce on a chilly September day, fluffed and guarding her sugar feeder. It's her favorite day-perch since she fledged. Born in Wisconsin, she's been preparing to travel the thousands of miles south across the continent over the Gulf of Mexico to Central America. She's never been there before.
She sports a crisp black tail with flashy white spots that match her underpants. The black eye-mask with a white dot behind her eye betrays her youth. She's feisty like her mom and dad.
So are the beasts.
The shabby feeder she insists on tending is old and missing the bee guards. Next spring I'll try to remember to get a new one.
Whoa!
Aack!
I've been watching and studying hummingbird tails with my camera this summer. At 53 beats per second, I can't watch or see her wings. Amazing!
Like all hummingbirds, ruby-throats are precision flyers with the ability to fly full out and stop in an instant, hang motionless in midair, and adjust their position up, down, sideways, and backwards with minute control.
I delight in the tail control. Tight tail...in-coming!
Start a tail-spread for the attack!
Flared tail. Full attack. Pinch the little beastie's head off. Done.
Knock the other beast off balance and it splits the scene. The sugar water has been won!
Notice the 4 left tail feathers and 2 in the middle? The 4 to the right are hidden.
Tail feathers closed tight.
In a quick move, she throws all 10 of her tail feathers to the left, and is gone in a blink. Amazing aerodynamics. But then again, she's a hummingbird.
I just observed this cool stuff about hummingbird tails and I'm not a scientist. What's happening in your backyard today? This bucket is now open for your observations. You can caption that last photo if you dare. Lol!
Important note: My young hummingbirds left on a northwind coldfront on September 22, during the night. Godspeed kidos.
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