Several things have converged to inspire this long-in-waiting re-entry to the blog. First, I am reading a book by Jon Dunn: “The Glitter in the Green – In Search of Hummingbirds”. It’s an interesting saga of his quest to see the many hummingbirds that are in extreme circumstances such as “farthest north occurring hummingbird”, those that are near extinction, and at least one (I’m not finished reading yet) that have reappeared after decades of invisibility. In addition to the stories of his hunt for birds, he leads the reader through a history of feather trade and current markets of hummingbirds as love potions.
Second, Facebook has been sending me daily suggestions to share posts I made two years ago during and after our memorable trip to Ecuador. I’ll jump lightly over the trials of camera gear theft and emphasize how remarkable that trip was for us. My (our) thanks to John Winnie and Janet, Susan and Paul Ballinger, J&J Zanol and T. Sparlin for making the trip educational and fun. Of course, I have to thank our intrepid and skilled guide Edwin Perez and our dear friend Mercedes at Puembo Birding Garden.
Much of my summer has been spent documenting five Anna’s Hummingbird nests here in the Wenatchee Valley. Four out of five of the nests have confirmed fledglings and I have film of birds on three nests. That may not sound too significant but it appears that they may be the first documented nests in our area – maybe eastern Washington. We know that there were other nests but nobody has photos of successful nesting. My goal with the documentation is to get a wide variety of bird guides and resources to adjust range maps and website text to recognize that the Anna’s Hummingbird is successfully nesting in eastern Washington. I recently read a description on one bird website that states that Anna’s are rarely seen in eastern Washington. That, friends, is at least forty years out of date. Really?
I got my daily Facebook reminder of Ecuador today and thought it would be interesting to revisit the photo archives form Ecuador. I hope to make an eBook about the hummers I’ve seen so the time in the photo library was well spent isolating the “picks” from the thousands of images.
Following are photos of seven hummingbird species that we saw. They are species that I had never heard of before our trip. Thankfully, Edwin and John were there to help me keep them straight. We saw the world’s largest hummingbird and what I believe is the second smallest hummer. We also saw two hummingbirds that rank #1 and #2 in terms of beak length relative to body size. In between, we saw many other species that reinforced how miraculous the hummers are. Jon Dunn uses the phrase “dipped in a rainbow” in his book. I think that works.
The four species of hummingbirds that we might see in central Washington are no less spectacular. I think we should celebrate that the Anna’s Hummingbird is expanding its range and is known to be a year-round resident in our valley. The debate about winter feeding and migration will continue but I hope that my documentation and presentation of the nesting and winter residence will lead people to a supportable conclusion. My position is this – the Anna’s Hummingbird is here because of climate change, increased backyard planting to support birds in general, and increased use of hummingbird feeders. As my friend Ken Bevis points out about Eurasian Collared-doves, Russian olive, and Siberian elm trees -“They are here. We may as well embrace them.” I think the same holds true for the Anna’s. They are here. They would migrate if they were programmed to do so. But, I repeat, they are here. All the time. I believe that winter feeding in the Wenatchee Valley can mean the difference between life and death for them. I hope to enjoy seeing them at my feeder this winter.
Bruce McCammon Photography 
Spectacular!!!
Sent from my iPhone
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