Made it back alive!

[badknees]

I just made it back on the 22nd and there were in fact a good number of hummingbirds out and about. I even saw a huge hummer that I really wish I could've snapped a picture of. Great pictures FatPacker! Looks like you had a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

Where was the "huge" hummer?

[stingrey]

The big daddy hummer flew right through the porch @ Chisos Mountain Lodge's motel units. I see plenty of hummers here in S.A. (and in Big Bend for that matter), but this one had a considerable size advantage to the point where even its flapping wings sounded different. Instead of a trilling noise, it was more of a super quick flapping. It looked right at me and mom, checked out the action a little further up, then flew the distance of the walkway and headed off.

[badknees]

The big daddy hummer flew right through the porch @ Chisos Mountain Lodge's motel units. I see plenty of hummers here in S.A. (and in Big Bend for that matter), but this one had a considerable size advantage to the point where even its flapping wings sounded different. Instead of a trilling noise, it was more of a super quick flapping. It looked right at me and mom, checked out the action a little further up, then flew the distance of the walkway and headed off.

There is a very large hummingbird in Big Bend, typically found in moist canyons (like Boot). It is the Blue Throated Hummer and is almost unmistakeable because of its size. It does range to lower elevations though and is a common summer resident. The only other large hummer in Big Bend would be the Magnificent Hummingbird. It is slightly smaller and would be considered uncommon in summer. Both species winter in Mexico and are extremely rare in the US except in summer.

[badknees]

The big daddy hummer flew right through the porch @ Chisos Mountain Lodge's motel units. I see plenty of hummers here in S.A. (and in Big Bend for that matter), but this one had a considerable size advantage to the point where even its flapping wings sounded different. Instead of a trilling noise, it was more of a super quick flapping. It looked right at me and mom, checked out the action a little further up, then flew the distance of the walkway and headed off.

There is a very large hummingbird in Big Bend, typically found in moist canyons (like Boot). It is the Blue Throated Hummer and is almost unmistakeable because of its size. It does range to lower elevations though and is a common summer resident. The only other large hummer in Big Bend would be the Magnificent Hummingbird. It is slightly smaller and would be considered uncommon in summer. Both species winter in Mexico and are extremely rare in the US except in summer.

Good info, how big is "very large"? Those we saw in the Copper Canyon were almost the size of Morning Doves.
QS

Perception is an odd thing. Although the birds you saw in Copper Canyon may have seemed very large, I can assure you they we not the size of Mourning doves. The largest Hummingbirds in that part of Mexico are the Blue Throated and Magnificent. Even though they are large by hummingbird standards, they are still only about 5" long. There are larger hummingbirds in Southern Mexico that range all the way through Central America. These include the Violet Sabrewing which is about 6" long. There is one hummingbird found in South America that is the king of all hummingbirds. The Giant Hummingbird is about 8" long and might give the impression of being "as big as a mourning dove", but Mourning doves are still quite a bit larger - about 12" long. These largest hummingbird is not native to Mexico. I assume what you were seeing in Copper canyon were Blue Throats, and Magnificents. Either way, hummingbirds are a joy to watch and unique.

[badknees]

is it possible that they were an unknown species? Without the photos I have seldom talked about those birds over the past 18 years. Anyway, they were enormous, and flew together in a flock.
Thanks,
QS

Highly unlikely. In addition if they were flocking, they probably weren't hummingbirds. While hummingbirds gather in numbers while feeding on a conspicuous food source, and are sometimes seen during migration together, they are not a flocking species in the general sense. I can't think of another species that resembles a hummingbird in BOTH appearance and behaviour. There are many colorful passerines in Mexico including honeycreepers, trogons and members of the tanager family, but hummingbirds are almost unique in behaviour.

[stingrey]

Can't tell you exactly except that it was easily 2 times larger in appearance than the black chinned and/or ruby throated hummers I normally see here and definitely larger than the broad tailed and lucifers I've seen in the park AND it made a different sound when flying.

Don't know how to explain that part any better, but for the record I have spent a good deal of time trying to get just a single awesome picture of any hummer stopping by my feeders on a daily basis and I have spent a good amount of time watching hummers in Big Bend. Even when I'm not looking for 'em, they seem to be there. I've had numerous face to face time with 'em, and they all normally sound one way or another. This big one sounded different, but was definitely a hummer.

I flipped through my guides when I got home and also pegged it as a Blue Throated due to the location/timeframe/normal range, etc.  All in all it was under the patio when we saw it, so it was not lit in any way... Could not get a good fix on the colors as a result.

Also... Sorry this thread kind of got off track! Didn't mean to turn this into a hummer thread! Just wondering if FatPacker saw any crazy critters when they were there since it was around the same timeframe as us!

[fartymarty]

Also... Sorry this thread kind of got off track! Didn't mean to turn this into a hummer thread!

Well as off topics go, that one was pretty interesting.

....but I'll see if I can help you out 'rey and get back on topic.

So F'packer, what was the lame excuse your son used to back out of the trip? ( I didn't see him in
any of the photos.) Was Tool performing a concert during your trip and he refused to miss it?

I'm glad you made it! ... and thanks for sharing your photos!

[FatPacker]

I will tell the whole story before this weekend is up.
Been super-busy since I got back from BIBE.....
I still owe you guys a good trip report, especially while my memory is still fresh.

I will say at this point that we did see a lot of hummingbirds, it seems they were rather large, but I would not call them LARGE by any means....  nor were they traveling in groups.

And Marty, TOOL was not his excuse, but I did get to go and see them in concert between the first attempt and the second trip out west. I'm sure your son will be impressed by that.

Must go work in the the yard for now.. I will return

[stingrey]

Can't wait! To clarify, I only saw one large hummer on this outing. The rest were "normal" size. How about snakes? Lizards? I am curious because we saw probably 15 snakes of varying size with the majority of 'em being on the drive in at night while about 1/3 of the sightings were in broad daylight and where maybe 5 of 'em were confirmed rattlesnakes... But most of 'em were small fries compared to the last time I had a snakestraveganza out West!