For The Birds

Yesterday I put up my hummingbird feeder in my backyard. This will be the 4th year I have had a feeder, and I probably should have put it out a little sooner. I am fascinated by watching hummingbirds - I guess because it's amazing to me that there are birds that are so tiny. I've found that even though I have the feeder right up next to one of my kitchen windows, the birds will still come to feed there. It's kind of like having a pet that I don't have to walk, clean up after, or keep off the furniture. Except I can't pet them. I read here that some people think the red dye in the commercially available mixes may harm them, so I just use regular sugar. In any case, sugar is cheaper and the red color is not needed to attract hummers. They seem to like regular sugar just fine. In this area, except in rare cases, we pretty much only have the ruby throated variety. My parents live in Arizona, and I have since discovered that out there they actually have several different varieties, which I thought was pretty cool.

This picture was taken in my backyard, it's a female ruby-throated.

I took these last 2 pictures in Arizona, these 2 pictures are of the same bird. As you can see in the second picture, the feathers on the head look bright pink when the bird is flying. I think it is an Anna's Hummingbird.