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Hummingbird Shower, and a Note From the Field

posted by Jerry Liguori at
on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 

This morning there were 2 hummingbirds hovering in the spray of my sprinkler. I realized they were showering! They would then sit on a nearby wire and preen, going back for a shower and back to preen several times. Has anyone else seen this?

Another thing I wanted to mention: when I hike, I often run into lizards and snakes. I noticed that you can tell the difference between a 4-legged lizard and a snake by sound when you can't see them. The lizard runs away making near-constant "chicka - chicka - chicka" footsteps on the dry ground. Snakes slither so their sound is "crunchy" on the dry ground but constant - never interrupted.
5 Comments:
Anonymous Mia McPherson said...

Jerry,

I used to have a pond in my backyard and during the summer I put a spray type head on my water pump and the hummingbirds loved it! They would fly through the spray mist and then land on the foliage of the plants I had near the pond or on my Bonsai style Red Maple to preen. Often when they were done they would fly back into the spray again.

I'd noticed the difference in the sounds of snakes and lizards moving across the ground. The only sound I don't like to hear around snakes is a rattle.

August 20, 2013 at 11:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have some Flickr Contacts in the SF Bay Area who shoot hummingbirds in a fountain at Ardenwood Historic Farm:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hockeylover/9441974374/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hockeylover/9532384345/

These are not my photos; but, they are public for everyone to see.

Ken Andrews
Maple Heights, Ohio

August 21, 2013 at 10:18 AM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Very cool

Thank you Mia and ken

August 21, 2013 at 11:35 AM  
Anonymous Steven Bauer said...

Here are some photos I took last April of an Allen's Hummingbird bathing in the shallow running water of a man-made waterfall in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds back east would regularly "bathe" in the mist of the hose when I was watering plants in the yard in summer.

I worked at a nature museum in New York State throughout my twenties and we had quite a few unreleasable raptors. All the diurnal raptors used to love to get sprayed by the hose, most of all the Bald Eagle. She would come down to the front of the enclosure and get a few feet from me as I sprayed her with the hose. She would lower one shoulder, then the other shoulder. She was awesome. She would start vocalizing as soon as she would see me coming to clean the cage in the morning because I was the only one who would take the time to spray her.

The owls would like to bathe in their water dishes but did not seem to like to get sprayed.

August 24, 2013 at 6:07 AM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Hi Steven

Thanks for relating the experiences.

Hope to see you at Hawk Hill this fall!!!!!

August 24, 2013 at 6:09 AM  

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