Date: 03/17/2023

Number: 1

Here's Radiant Raphy, our first year male Rufous Hummingbird, who has overwintered with us here in NC since late October. Our friend, Paul Nielson, captured this shot of him on his favorite feeder yesterday afternoon.

All winter, we've had 2 heated feeders out and then this one, unheated, which we put out first thing in the morning before Raphy is up and at em'. The only times through the winter that we did't put out this feeder were when temps just didn't allow it. Raphy would use the heated feeders during those times, but definitely has a strong pull to this one. With the heated feeders, we would plug them at night when temps dipped down into mid 30s or lower. They have come in very handy this winter, as we've had many, many very cold nights, plunging as low as 4 degrees Christmas Eve morning.

As you can see by the photo, Raphy's molting has been going very well and he appears to be a strong and healthy young male. He is still molting heavily around his beak and on his throat. And interestingly, as this is our first experience with an overwintering Rufous, or any overwinding hummingbird for that matter, he has become extremely vocal over the last couple of weeks. He now sounds like an adult Rufous, whereas most of the winter, we would only occasionally hear a few chirps out of him. I've had some contact me, suggesting that he may be an Allen's Hummingbird, rather than a Rufous, as he does still have a decent amount of green on his back and head. I know that is a possibility, but it's hard for me to tell and I haven't really been able to observe any tail spread to try and see if I can detect those details that would be helpful.

He is finally comfortable with me and will feed at his feeder with me being just a few feet away from him. Until recently, he was extremely skittish and would definitely not do that. He is also very curious about me, my husband, and our 3 year old daughter. He zooms all around us and you can hear the distinctive sounds that his Rufous tail and wing feathers make.

It has been an incredible experience hosting an overwintering hummingbird. It was stressful at first, but once I saw him perched at one of the heated feeders on Christmas Eve morning with the temp at 4 degrees, I knew he was going to be ok and tried not to worry about him so much. It's definitely true when they say that the Rufous hummingbirds are tough, resilient, little birds. We've been so impressed by him. He'll be on his way soon to his NW breeding grounds and he'll definitely be missed. We'll be praying for him and we do hope that he'll be back here with us this fall. I'll have lots of flowers and feeders waiting for him. :)

Kernersville, NC

Latitude: 36.1 Longitude: -80.1

Observed by: Sophie
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