365 Urban Species. #107: Green-throated Carib

[urbpan]

photos, naturally, by cottonmanifesto
Urban species #107: Green-throated Carib Eulampis holosericeus

I have seen a hummingbird in the city of Boston exactly once. However, in cities with more reliable sources of nectar, hummingbirds can be common. San Francisco, California and San Jose, Costa Rica are two cities I've visited that are almost lousy with hummingbirds. To that, I add the greater St Johns, Antigua area.

Trees, shrubs, and vines of one kind or another are always in bloom on the island. Even fairly close to the hot, treeless main drag of souvenir shops, the hummingbirds buzz around. Despite their small size and seemingly fragile bodies, they are bold and pugnacious animals willing to fight other birds for resources, and often come quite close to humans when flying.

On Antigua, the hummingbird we most often encountered was the green-throated carib, a relatively plain (compared to other tropical hummingbirds) but still strikingly beautiful creature.

We also saw the smaller Antillean crested hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus) quite often, but it was too fast for us to obtain any good photographs.

Comments

[pinkveneer.livejournal.com]

nice!
where'd you see the h-bird in boston?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

In the Arboretum, at the top of the hill, on some kind of flowering tree. (I didn't know my trees back then, but I'm guessing it was a black locust.)

[pinkveneer.livejournal.com]

lucky!

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Las Vegas has them as well. Last week the hummingbirds started visiting my front yard. The week prior to that, I saw the first roadrunner I'd seen in a dozen years and only the second I've seen in the valley.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I saw my first hummingbird ever in your yard!

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

cottonmanifesto takes fantastic pictures. really wonderful.