I will be posting more about this amazing hummingbird. His name is Fabio (and he deserves it!) This is the seventh winter that I’ve had Anna’s hummingbirds coming to my home here on Vancouver Island, Canada. Unlike the rufous hummingbirds, who used to be our “regulars,” Anna’s hummingbirds stay all winter. I have had severalContinue reading “A very special hummingbird”
Author Archives: Jacqueline Windh
Why are Anna’s hummingbirds moving north to Canada?
Why are Anna’s hummingbirds are expanding their range traditional territory in and around California northward to Canada and even Alaska? Well, the photo above reveals at least part of the answer: because gardeners like me enjoy having flowers blooming year-round. With our relatively mild winters here in coastal British Columbia, that is actually possible! ThatContinue reading “Why are Anna’s hummingbirds moving north to Canada?”
Baby it’s cold outside… first snow!
This is perhaps the most intriguing thing to me: how these tiny Anna’s hummingbirds, adapted for the tropics, and with essentially no body mass, survive our cold Canadian winters! We don’t get snow every winter here (in Port Alberni, central Vancouver Island). We have, though, seen a few days of snow pretty regularly these pastContinue reading “Baby it’s cold outside… first snow!”
Hummingbird range expansion: Successful nesting
Part of the reason that Anna’s hummingbirds have been so successful at expanding their range (from northern Mexico and Southern California, now all the way up to British Columbia, Canada, and Alaska) is because they are very good at raising babies. These hummingbirds have been known to start up to five nests per year. IContinue reading “Hummingbird range expansion: Successful nesting”
And here are the boys…
For the first two years that Anna’s hummingbirds were visiting my home, all of the birds coming to my feeders were females. The population grew each year, and by the third summer one of that spring’s hatchlings took up residence on my front balcony, perched in the shrubbery. Juvenile males and females look nearly theContinue reading “And here are the boys…”
Meet the girls!
You were introduced to Rosie (photo of her above) in my previous post. She was the first Anna’s hummingbird to ever show up here and stick around – for six years now! So she is probably an ancestor to much of the current hummer population in my neighbourhood. Female Anna’s hummingbirds – like most birdContinue reading “Meet the girls!”
How it all began…
The photo above was taken in December 2014 – more of a snapshot, taken long before I was working on any sort of hummingbird photography project. This is the bird I now call Rosie: the first hummingbird to reside in my yard. Six years later, she is still here! It was November, 2014. My husband,Continue reading “How it all began…”
Snowbirds 