Carrie and I had two goals this Saturday--to stain the back porch and to see a Rufous Hummingbird in Downer's Grove, IL. We planned to get the bird first and then to stain the deck. This worked out well since it was cold and drizzling most of the day. Bob Fisher first reported seeing the rare but annual species in his yard about a week and a half ago. This individual was at first thought to be a female, but from photos appears to be a juvenile male with plenty of Rufous splotches all over its body.
After each of us cooked our own eggs, we filled our cups with coffee and water and drove an hour and a half to Downer's Grove. While we were driving, I phoned Bob, who had already given me permission to come into his yard, to find out where the feeders were. When I called at around 9:00 a.m., the bird had not yet been seen, but Bob told me how to get to his feeders since he planned to be away at the hawk watch. He was very kind and welcoming and even kind enough to call back a little later to let us know his wife saw the hummingbird out the window.
We arrived at about 9:40 a.m. and followed the paved path behind the house, where several chairs were set up along the back of the house under the second story deck. Bob had mentioned that the hummingbird was coming to the West feeder. Colin Dobson and Eddie Kasper were sitting in the chairs closest to the feeder. Tony Ward and Sharon Dobson were sitting a little further back. A little later another birder showed up, but I did not have a chance to speak with him. The bird came into the feeder not long after we arrived, but it came to the back side of the feeder, and we could not see it. Then it came again to the part of the feeder facing us about 30 minutes later, but quickly flew to the back side and away before I was even able to get my binoculars raised to my eyes. This bird seemed to be skiddish. It did not seem to like people sitting close to the feeder, nor did it seem to like to come when people were talking.
Bob's backyard was lovely and outstanding for wildlife. While we were there, Carrie saw a Coyote and a deer in his yard, and among the birds we saw or heard were Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Cedar Waxwing
We all moved out into the yard in various directions, and eventually the bird came back to the feeder, but did not even take a drink before it flew away. It seemed to me that perhaps we were still too close to the feeder. At about 11:30 a.m. Carrie and I had still not been able to see the bird through our binoculars and we were both getting cold. So we decided to go to lunch and come back. We had a nice lunch at Panera Bread. Since we are both still on our diet, we decided to eat salads with our soup instead of sandwiches, and their salads were great. We both drank warm drinks, and after lunch, we returned to Bob's house refreshed and a little warmer. When we arrived, everyone had left except Eddie. He was sitting in the chair closest to the feeder, and I sat down next to him. We went out to the yard for a bit to see if that would make a difference. Unfortunately, Eddie had to leave before the bird appeared, but he said it had buzzed the feeder several times while we were gone. Eddie's mother, Kelly, arrived to pick him up, and Carrie and I returned to the chairs, but the hummingbird never returned to the feeder.
We were about to leave when I looked out into the yard and saw the hummingbird feeding on one of the flowers as shown at the top of the post. Carrie was finally able to get looks at it through her binoculars as was I. I also took this photo when it landed on a branch above the flowers.
And I followed it to the back of the yard, where I took this photo showing its rufous tail.
When I returned to the back of the house, Bob told me from the second story deck that he had seen the hummingbird visit the feeder while I was in the back of the yard, which confirmed my theory that the bird did not want people to be close when it was feeding.
Excited to finally see this intermediate plumaged Rufous hummingbird, which was a lifer for Carrie and a state bird for me, Carrie and I drove home to find that the weather had cleared up and that the back porch was dry. I scraped the porch, while she went to buy the paint, and were able to finish painting it before dark. Mission accomplished!
