Date: 9/10/26 8:13 pm From: 'Michele Bloom' via Colorado Birds <cobirds...> Subject: [cobirds] Re: Historical Front Range abundance of Black-chinned Hummingbird and Blue Jay
Margaret, I live at WindCrest, SW of Denver (Highlands Ranch), near
Chatfield Reservoir. We've had Black-chinned Hummingbirds in recent years
at our feeders but not in abundance.I saw them at my feeder early in the
summer. I also had occasional Black-chins at my home feeders in Centennial
before moving here. At WindCrest we have many native plants in our gardens
,and they predictabley come to the Arizona Hummingbird (Zaucheneria) plants
in our pollinator garden, This summer I had a remarkable experience of
finding a Black-chinned nest at eye level -- 4-feet away on a pathway into
my building. The mother appeared and I watched her sitting on the nest with
two little fluff balls of grey. The nest was beautifully constructed of dry
grasses and had a woven rim; it looked like intricately woven spider webs
for reinforcement. I checked on the nest twice every day for a couple of
weeks. Eventually one baby fledged, leaving a smaller one behind. The
mother was not seen for a week or so, but the baby continued to grow. After
a windstorm, I saw him on the rocks below his torn nest. He was then seen
back in the partial nest for a few days. And the next time, I saw him on a
branch below, clinging to a small limb. I think the mother must have been
watching him and feeding him all along. Shortly after, I saw him in the
center of the shrub and she was there feeding him. Both were gone the next
time I passed by. A few days later I passed some flowering plants quite a
distance from the nest and saw a mother and juvenile feeding there. I like
to think it was the two of them, preparing to migrate. It ws a happy
experience. A few weeks ago, our maintenance staff told me that multiple
hummingbirds were being seen near a garage opening. I checked there and saw
three Black-chinned Hummingbirds in small trees out side the garage. Later
they reported that the birds were nesting in the garage. In August!
Michele Bloom
On Thursday, September 10, 2026 at 12:27:11 PM UTC-6 Margaret Smith wrote:
> I spent a great deal of time south of (and above) Nederland at the
> University of Colorado Radio Astronomy Observatory during the spring,
> summer, and fall of 1973, monitoring solar activity for the protection of
> the Sky Lab astronauts. Black-chinned Hummingbirds were abundant at the RAO
> feeder (about half as common as Broad-tails), and obviously nesting in the
> proximity. Now, they are the most common daily visitors to my Boulder
> feeder, spring through fall, and obviously not migrants.
>
> However, Bailey and Niedrach (1965) lists them as “resident in southwest
> and stragglers to the northward and east.” Andrews and Righter (1992) lists
> them as “casual in northeastern foothills (five records).”
>
> I grew up in Denver (50s & 60s) and have lived in Boulder since 1970. I
> didn’t become a birdwatcher till the early 70s, but previously kept track
> of what I saw. I saw my first Blue Jay in north Boulder in 1978. Now, they
> are the most common species at my backyard feeder.
>
> Bailey and Niedrach (1965) lists the first Denver Area record as 1937 and
> documents finding several subsequently. The Spring Count of 1962 shows
> “Boulder 1”. The map in Andrews and Righter (1992) shows gray (uncommon to
> fairly common) for them except in the eastern Platte Valley, and lists the
> first breeding record in Pueblo County in 1970.
>
> Can the community please comment on time of arrival of abundance for these
> two species?
>
> -- Margaret Smith
>
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to <cobirds...>
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate.
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/ ---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+<unsubscribe...>
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/<7d9db0cd-0122-43c3-86ce-e7b7ac28d3b7n...>
