(OMED: Following June's  Doug Tankersley article on hummers, Oregon Magazine's official birdman has a few words to say on the subject.)

According to Ohlone legend, Hummingbird acquired his flaming red throat after stealing a hot ember from the underground-dwelling Badger People, thereby returning fire to the outside world.

Native people of Central California, the Ohlone lived year-round with a hummingbird of exceptional brilliance, the Anna’s “Hummer,” whose entire head glows aflame when struck by the light of the sun. Ornithologist Robert Ridgway in 1892 even went so far as to call the Anna’s, “perhaps the most beautiful of North American Humming Birds.”

Today, Western Oregon residents who live in developed areas also share the experience of the Anna’s Hummingbird, especially if they maintain hummingbird feeders for these nectar-loving gems. But the magic of Oregon’s hummingbirds doesn’t stop with the Anna’s. Six species of hummers have been confirmed nesting in the state, with a seventh occurring less regularly and one record of an eighth species that wandered north from its traditional range.

The male Rufous Hummingbird may be the most striking of all Oregon's hummers, with its flaming "gorget," or throat patch, and it's bright rusty body. Depending on the light angle, the gorget feathers will reflect various shades of the color spectrum.

Which six species nest regularly in Oregon? 

Anna’s – Willamette Valley and Coast
Allen’s – Southern Oregon Coast
Black-chinned – Mostly Northeast Oregon
Broad-tailed – Mountains of extreme Northeast and Southeast Oregon
Calliope – Mostly Cascade and Wallowa Mountains
Rufous – Mostly mountains, but widespread west of the Cascades

The other two, the Costa’s and Broad-billed Hummingbirds, traditionally nest in the Southwestern United States. Costa’s are starting to appear more frequently in Oregon and they may even nest in the state someday.

Hummingbird magic even goes beyond their magnificent glitter. Take the wonder of hovering. Underneath those shining feathers is a body structure like no other bird. Their shoulder joint, for example, allows hummingbirds to twist their wings so they gain lift on both the forward and backward strokes. However, the motion alone is not enough for the bird to hover; it has to beat its wings in a sideways figure-eight between 20 and 80 strokes per second!

To drive a hummingbird’s wings, it dedicates about 30 percent of its body weight to its breast muscles, three times that of the weakest flying birds. To feed those muscles, hummers must consume approximately their body weight in nectar each day, driving the highest metabolic rate of any animal on Earth.

August may be the best time to observe hummingbirds in Oregon. During the period known as “post-breeding dispersal,” young hummers and old are fattening up on nectar to make the southerly migration, so they frequently visit feeding stations with gardens and nectar feeders. Only the Anna’s Hummer traditionally stays in Oregon through the winter, so the Allen’s, Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, Calliope, and Rufous will all be actively staging for the trip south.

Hummingbird gardening may be the most creative way to attract hummers, but nectar feeders work just as well for those without gardening space or the time to tend a garden. Most hummingbird feeders show some amount of red and yellow to attract the birds; red-dyed hummingbird nectar is not necessary and may even harm visiting hummers.

Perfect nectar can be brewed by even the most inept home chef. The prescribed mixture includes tap water and refined (white) sugar, four parts to one. Boiling the water before and after adding the sugar will help kill anything that has the potential to harm the birds. Nectar should be cooled before pouring into a feeder and it should be replaced about every four days, more often if the feeder is placed in exposed sunlight. Perhaps the best way to simplify the routine is to only place small amounts of nectar in the feeder at a time, storing the rest of the batch in the refrigerator until changing day arrives.

Whether the curious observer watches hummers visiting wildflowers on an August mountain hike, or in feeders in the backyard, “hummingbirding” makes for an exciting start to the fall migration. Everyone deserves a taste of hummingbird magic.

Sources Cited

Rumsien Ohlone Stories told by Linda Yamane. When the World Ended; How the Hummingbird Got Fire; How People Were Made; Oyate, Berkeley, CA. 1995.

Arthur Cleveland Bent. Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, ummingbirds and Their Allies. Smithsonian, Washington, DC. 1940.

Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye. The Birder’s Handbook: A field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, New York, NY. 1988.

© 2002 Stephen Shunk of Paradise Birding