Black-Chinned Hummingbird

This morning was cool enough and I got up early enough to get out and watch for my fine feathered friends. It was almost immediately when I saw another Black-Chinned Hummingbird flitting around our trees near the feeder I set up. I managed to get this shot when he stopped to perch on a neighbor's clothesline to scope things out.

(Black-Chinned Hummingbird)

It's not easy catching these little guys sitting still, but this one was cooperating quite well. He kept his distance, because I was apparently making him a bit nervous.

Since making alterations to the seal on my ant moat, I've not seen any sign of ants contaminating their home-made nectar. In the hot weather we've been having, I have to refill the moat pretty often, but it's worth it. Even though I don't get out early enough most of the time, the nectar keeps going down - and it isn't leaking. I know where it's going now.  :)
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Black-Chinned Hummingbird

Another "first" for me here in the panhandle. Shelley saw one of these flit by a couple days ago, and this morning I took up a position near our trumpet vines. After a few minutes (10 or 15 maybe) I saw this little girl dancing around some of the upper flowers and darting in and out of them.

(Female Black-Chinned Hummingbird)

These tiny birds are not uncommon to the panhandle, but they are not easy to see - especially in the early morning light. In addition to getting the nectar from flowers like these, they also dine on tiny flying bugs and are frequent/common visitors to hummingbird feeders. Black-Chinned Hummingbirds commonly perch on high, bare branches of trees.

As part of their mating ritual, males will perform a steep dive as much as 75 - 100 feet to impress the females.