Living in the sagebrush biome for over twenty years tends to fine-tune one's senses.  It is extraordinarily mesmerizing in color, smell, structure, and wildlife.  Making time during the day just to let our eyes scan the tops of mile after mile of sagebrush in the same way one looks at ocean waves was nature's meditation.  The sagebrush ecosystem "is the largest contiguous ecotype in the continental United States, comprising one-third of the land mass of the continental lower 48." (United States Fish and Wildlife Service online).  What we did not know when we moved to Taos County was the fact that the same sagebrush sea houses a huge number of spiders, mites, and other insects that are perfect for the dietary needs of the hummingbirds.  Combine that with sugar water, and they are unstoppable!

Each year, when we heard the first hummingbird scouts, (usually broad-tailed hummingbirds) arrive around tax time, we rushed to the sink to make sugar water for the feeders and welcome our seasonal friends.  Watching a documentary film on the PBS program Nature last week titled "The Hummingbirds of Hollywood" reminded me how much I miss the masses of hummers that visited the feeders, thus sharing their lives as masters of the air.  The documentary title could have referred to any number of things other than hummingbirds, but we were excited to see that actually was the subject matter.  A retired University of California, Los Angeles professor - Terry Masear - has run the Los Angeles Hummingbird Rescue since 2002 and what stories she must have to tell.  Some of her stories and experiences are captured in the documentary.  It is well worth viewing. I found myself seeing moves in the footage from some of the injured hummingbirds similar to those I had photographed in sagebrush country.  So in celebration of these flying wonders' return, a selection of photographs taken from the years spent on the mesa are included here.

Terry Masear was miles away and being in the Los Angeles area obviously could not help, but I am glad that eventually this young rufous hummingbird recovered from hitting a window.  Its unfortunate glass encounter gave me an opportunity to get seriously close.  I actually held it in my hand to warm it up.  You can barely feel them, weighing between .007/ounce for a bumble bee hummer and .85/ounce for a giant hummingbird. Their strength and abilities never cease to amaze me.  

Check out these moves.  

The flight tolerances are frequently quite small, especially when the competition at the feeder is at its greatest, during mating season, and when the rufous hummingbirds are migrating south in large number.  Their acute skills keep them apart most of the time.  

But by the end of the season, their feathers are pretty trashed, as you can see in the photograph below.  The edges of this female's flight feathers have seen some action, as have the tail feathers which also show some wear.   
 

They loved the Salvia pachyphylla (blue or Mojave sage), spending hours in the flowers. 

There are people who use as much as 700 pounds of sugar during the season, feeding hummingbirds in New Mexico along the Rio Chama, in Española, and in the Pecos Wilderness.  We used roughly 100 pounds of C&H, filling 4 one-quart bottles every day.  At the high point of feeding in early August, we had as many as 350-400 birds.  The air races were on!
 

I hope you are able to see "Hummingbirds of Hollywood", as well as your own hummingbirds while spring continues and eventually folds into summer.  

Thanks to Tim, Jean & Sam, TTT, Catherine S., Steve, Barbara F. R., and Marilyn G. for writing last week.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image©