Typical winter “artic outflow” has brought a sudden drop in temperature here in the Fraser Valley (-5 to –10 C). We usually get a few of these over the winter. Bright clear sky’s. Freezing east winds.
This time of year we have a wide range of visitors that hang out in what is usually a wet and mild climate. One of them, a tough little bird called the Anna’s Humming Bird. I’ve always been surprised how these tiny delicate creatures can survive through winter but we regularly see them picking through various winter plants for insects and nectar. Of course we have to find a way to interfere and we try to help them out by putting out feeders (with electric heating tape to prevent them from freezing! ).
With the most recent Artic dip, these guys become ferocious guarding “THIER” food sources. Early this morning we just happened to be watching ( with astonishment) on our feeder web cam, several Anna’s gang up on one of their own, knocking a small male Anna’s to the ground with apparently full intent to injure or kill him. We rushed out to put a stop to the attack. I scooped up the “stunned” male Anna’s, he seemed a little “out of it” but like birds do, snapped out of it and blew out of my hands and zipped off in the direction of our second feeder.
I figured he was fine but when I rounding the corner to head back into the house when I saw him sitting at the back feeder trying to feed with a second male literally trying to spear him as he was drinking from the feeder. In an almost zombie state he was hanging in there trying to tank up on food and making no effort to duck the barrage of the attacking male. The attacking male was so aggressive it took both Mia and I with hands in the air intercepting his dives to keep him from killing the zombie at the feeder. This is when I decided to have a closer look at what appeared to be the injured Anna’s and I plucked him off of the feeder and brought him into the house.
He looked rough and out of it. Perhaps nature was calling his number? Being it was the very begging of the daily feeding cycle and given the very high metabolic rate these little machines have, I figured he might have gotten dangerously weak from lack of food and cold and if there was a chance, it might only take a brief period to warm up, fuel up and get back in the game.
We hung up a feeder over the kitchen sink and just like that he left my hand, hovered for a moment and flew straight to the feeder and settled in for nice long breakfast:
After about 20 minutes, we heard him hovering around the kitchen, he did a quick tour of the house at which point I opened the kitchen door to the outside…. and he was gone.
After that…. it’s up to nature. (The next few days look like they are going to up a few more degrees)
