Birdcam's assignment yesterday was to help me gather data on Hummingbird activity at my back corner feeder. I'm hoping to better understand what level of activity I am getting and why I am seeing less of it in 2009. While the photographs taken were entirely awful (I was set up just a little too close to the feeder) I do have the numbers. And not to my surprise this feeder only experienced a modest amount of hummingbird traffic. BirdCam recorded only six visits between 11:20 AM and 4:30 PM, or about one every 52 minutes. Even with natural alternatives nearby (trumpet creeper, especially) this is not the type of visitation I would expect from a Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Hence these birds must spend much more of their day elsewhere, and territories are presumably larger than normal. Perhaps we have a case of smaller population spread more widely.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Evidence of a Smaller Population
Birdcam's assignment yesterday was to help me gather data on Hummingbird activity at my back corner feeder. I'm hoping to better understand what level of activity I am getting and why I am seeing less of it in 2009. While the photographs taken were entirely awful (I was set up just a little too close to the feeder) I do have the numbers. And not to my surprise this feeder only experienced a modest amount of hummingbird traffic. BirdCam recorded only six visits between 11:20 AM and 4:30 PM, or about one every 52 minutes. Even with natural alternatives nearby (trumpet creeper, especially) this is not the type of visitation I would expect from a Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Hence these birds must spend much more of their day elsewhere, and territories are presumably larger than normal. Perhaps we have a case of smaller population spread more widely.
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