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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:20:59 -0800
To: Barry Langdon-Lassagne <[[email protected]]>, [[email protected]]
From: Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>
Subject: Re: [SBB] Any tips on identifying Calliope Hummingbirds?
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At 12:53 PM 3/26/04, Barry Langdon-Lassagne wrote:
>I spent the morning on the trail along the backside of Stevens Creek 
>Reservoir and had a wonderful time enjoying the birds and the flowers. At 
>several sites - always in a Live Oak tree there was a confusing 
>hummingbird. It made constant "chip-chip-chip" noises both when it was 
>flying around in the oak tree and when it was perched. I only saw the bird 
>twice, and it was either an immature or female so there wasn't much to go 
>on for field marks: green back, a little white behind the eye, plain-gray 
>throat (so far as I could tell). It had a thin slightly downcurved bill 
>but I wouldn't have called it "short". It didn't look "tiny" to me like I 
>expect a Calliope would look. When I listen to Stoke's bird songs, only 
>the Calliope has a distinct "chip-chip-chip" that matches what I was 
>hearing, but that seems pretty tenuous to go on.

Anna's have a variety of chipping notes when irritated.  I would have 
thought that the most obvious feature on a female Calliope would have been 
the buff underparts as compared to the gray of Anna's.


>Is the chipping sound distinct, or similar to sounds that several hummers 
>make? Are oak trees at Stevens Creek Reservoir a reasonable habitat to see 
>a Calliope?  I thought they preferred higher altitudes; could yesterday's 
>rains have "downed" them? Is it possible that I heard three separate 
>Calliope Hummingbirds, or are they much more rare than that?

They are very rare.  We average 2 to 3 each spring, usually in April and 
early May.


Bill Bousman
Santa Clara County records compiler 

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