Date: 11/23/25 8:21 pm From: rainyday via groups.io <c_griz...> Subject: [AKBirding] Sunday, November 23, 2025 Rufous and Anna’s Hummingbirds!
Sunday, November 23, 2025 Rufous and Anna’s Hummingbirds!
Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 9:18 am, sunset 4:13 pm for a total day length of 6 hours and 54 minutes.
Civil twilight 8:26 am rise, 5:05 pm set. Tomorrow will be 4 minutes and 4 seconds shorter.
Sunny again today but chilly in the north wind, temperatures ranged from 20 to 23.
Just before sunrise this morning at 9:08 am, I turned on the baby monitor that I rigged up with the receiver outside by the bird feeder. I heard a “tick-tick-tick” and then the ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD flew in to the heated feeder. Yay! He survived another long, cold night! As always, he chose the plastic yellow flower on the right side, maybe so he can keep track of the action at the sunflower seed and suet feeders.
But that wasn’t the best part of the day. Today, I solved a Hummingbird mystery!
On November 7, a neighbor a block away mentioned she has had a large hummingbird and a smaller hummingbird since October 10 at her unheated 2 oz cup feeders stuck to her east-facing window with suction cups. I first saw the Anna’s checking out my house on October 19 and then set up my feeder.
We figured out that we shared the large male ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD, but the smaller one remained a mystery as it never visited my luxury, heated feeder.
Just before sunset today, I visited her home and watched a male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD feed regularly in the dusky light from 4 pm to almost 4:30 pm. He was very noticeably smaller, and fidgety, flying up and back several times before settling down to drink. He prefers the left feeder and the yellow plastic flower.
Several times, he flew to a nearby tree after feeding to sit on a snow-covered branch in the heart of the tree, such a tiny being in that winter landscape! I took photos through the window until it got too dark.
Rufous Hummingbirds are migratory. The males are supposed to leave first and all should have left by mid-July, August at the latest. The last date I saw a Rufous female was July 17. This plucky but clueless guy looks like a hatch year bird that may have been here since summer and never left!
I slipped him a miniscule engraved invitation to visit my feeder any time. I eagerly await his arrival!
