Hummingbirds in Hell Canyon, Black Hills, South
Dakota
July 26 - 31, 2010
I camped in the area of Hell Canyon and spent
mornings and afternoons photographing birds, but my focus was hummingbirds. I
hoped to see the Calliope Hummingbird seen by others, but it must have moved on.
Rufous and Broad-tailed were still present. It seemed that numbers dropped off
by the end of the week. On Wednesday, the spring (about one mile from
Highway 16) was buzzing with hummers. Other good places were between the
first and second stream crossing and the area where the old asphalt remains on
the trail. I've never seen more hummingbirds in one place in South Dakota than I
did during this week in Hell Canyon.
Photographing hummingbirds without the aid of feeding stations is challenging.
It took a lot of time to find perches that were used repeatedly, then a lot of
waiting for the hummer to come back. In addition, the lighting in the canyon is
poor, by the time the sun rises above the rim it is too high in the sky and
provides very harsh light. Luckily for me, the days when hummers were most
numerous and active were cloudy, the clouds diffused the light providing good
photographic conditions.
The hummer I reported as a possible Anna's is most likely a Broad-tailed that
was photographed in a way that appeared to show color on the crown as the same
color of the gorget. I think now that the ruffled feathers appear black when
they should be green. I had several emails about this bird, some think Anna's,
one possibly a Black-chinned, but most go with Broad-tailed.
I'm posting these images at a higher resolution than I usually do, consequently
the file sizes are larger and may be slow for those on slower internet
connection. I did this so finer details on these tiny birds can be seen.
Male Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird, imm. male
Rufous Hummingbird, adult male
Rufous Hummingbird, adult male
Broad-tailed Hummingbird, adult female
Rufous Hummingbird, imm.
Rufous Hummingbird, imm. male
Rufous Hummingbird, imm. male
Rufous Hummingbird, good view of the
retrices
Rufous Hummingbird, imm. male
Broad-tailed Hummingbird, adult male
The mystery hummingbird, most likely a
Broad-tailed.
Rufous Hummingbird, adult female?
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