"EVEN HUMMERS CAN BE GREEN"

Calliope Hummingbird (Juvenile) - 6 Photos

So there I was sitting by the creek, hoping for a mink sighting (sigh) and watching two American Goldfinches flying in and around.

Wouldn't it be a great shot, I thought, if one of the finches would land on the newly opened flowers of a thistle, about five feet off to my right. What a great photo opportunity of the bright yellow bird against the pink.

Then something caught my eye. At first I thought it was a dragonfly flitting about the thistle flower, then my brain went to "hawk moth" and then it suddenly dawned on me, it was a hummingbird! And as soon as I thought "hummingbird",  a little songbird flew by and scared it off.  That was another "darn".

So I waited and maybe 10 minutes later, back came the little darling again. I guess the nectar in that thistle flower was just so tempting.

It hovered to the back of the flower and then finally flew clear so I could get some shots. After about 8 minutes, it flew away, leaving me in awe. And for this extremely tiny little bird, just one stop on its long migration south. How such a small creature can make such a journey of thousands of miles, is one of Nature's incredible stories.

I sent the photo off to Brian Keating, the Calgary naturalist who is a regular guest on Calgary's & Edmonton's CBC Radio. He kindly reached out to three brilliant colleagues of his, who all identified it as a juvenile Calliope Hummingbird. 

So even some Hummers can be green!

And please check out Brian's amazing sighting on a hiking trip to Sunshine Meadows in Banff, Alberta, CA. Link below:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/brian-keating-naturalist-calgary-black-squirrel-melanism-1.6118054

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