A Week Full of Surprises

tanjabrittonwriter 69 Comments

The scene above shows our autumn-attired back yard on October 21. The comparison image below was taken only one week later, on October 28, and reflects the striking difference a mere week had wrought on our fall foliage. As the intervening days came with above-average temperatures in the 60s to 70s F (20s C) and only mild breezes, we were surprised by the speed with which the leaves had severed their connection from their branches.

If you look closely, you might see an incipient layer of white in the image. I took it around 5 PM, just as a predicted cold front was making itself felt. According to our local meteorologists, it was to bring about 2-4 inches (5 -10 cm) of snow to the area.

Imagine our astonishment when we looked outside the following morning to find the scenery transformed by a thick wintry blanket. Our trusted measuring stick confirmed that nearly one foot of snow (30 cm) had fallen overnight, effectively ending a recent dry stretch and bringing a reminder that we live at 6,000 feet (1800m) at the fringe of the Rocky Mountains.

More impressions from around the house from October 29:

Thank you, Andy!

Also present on the evening of October 28 as the first snowflakes were starting to fly was the amazing creature posing here:

If you are astounded, you are not alone. We are blessed with four different species of hummingbirds in the course of the summer, but most of them move south by the end of September or beginning of October. Some stragglers might come through in the middle of the month, and a review of my sightings on eBird confirmed a couple of these instances on October 17 in previous years.

Never before have we had such a late visitor, and I have been concerned for him ever since he appeared in the neighborhood on October 26 (it is possible that he arrived as early as October 21, when we observed a hummingbird on the feeder, but didn’t get a close look or photograph). The colored feathers at the base of his gorget show him to be a male. I suspect this Broad-tailed Hummingbird was born this year and has never migrated to his wintering grounds in Mexico before, though I don’t have enough experience with hummingbird molts to say for sure. I also don’t know why he hasn’t heeded the signs of the changing seasons, but I still hope he will leave soon, for his own sake.

Meanwhile, this remarkable bird has survived several nights of subfreezing temperatures. Hummingbirds can enter torpor, a state in which they drop their core temperature and slow down their metabolism in order to conserve energy. Knowing this theoretically is one thing. Experiencing it firsthand is another, and I have been keeping a worried eye on the feeder each day, half hoping not to see him while envisioning him in warmer climes, but breathing a sigh of relief nonetheless when he makes appearances to sip sugar water for sustenance.

People often wonder if keeping hummingbird feeders out this late in the year encourages the birds to postpone their migration. All reputable sources assure us the opposite to be true, and the practice can provide stragglers with some much-needed energy when natural food sources are scarce. The mild temperatures, numerous blossoming flowers, and insects present until last week might have provided him with sweet nectar as well as the occasional protein morsel and invited him to linger, but our recent weather event has put an abrupt end to blooms and insects. Since our snowfall, the days have been warming slowly and the predicted high for the end of the week is 68⁰ F (20⁰C). If Hummy didn’t feel the need to leave when the thermometer dropped below freezing, I wonder what will compel him to do so. So while I tell him to, PLEASE, move on, for the time being I will keep refilling the feeder.

Godspeed, you little marvel. I’m rooting for you!

Hummy on October 26

Hummy on October 26

PS: While the hummingbird doesn’t seem to want to fly away, I must, and for that reason will take another break from blogging. I wish each of you a healthy and peaceful November.

69 thoughts on “A Week Full of Surprises”

  1. Our fall doesn’t usually last very long either, but snow in October sounds early to me for Colorado, but I guess at that altitiude anything can happen. That poor little hummingbird! I hope he’s okay!! Have a great November, Maggie

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    • Thank you, Maggie. Anything can indeed happen. All that snow has since melted and it’s back into the 60s. In other, higher parts of Colorado, the snow might stay, but not here.
      I also hope the hummingbird will be fine. We haven’t seen him for a number of days.
      Enjoy your November.

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  3. wow, ich bin ebenfalls beeindruckt. auch über den “hummingbird”. ich denke, er würde fortfliegen, wenn es diesen inneren impuls gibt, dass es zu kalt ist. eine schöne und erholsame pause dir und ich hoffe, ihr habt es schön warm daheim und müsst nicht allzu oft unfreiwillig durch die kälte. liebe grüße aus berlin. hier sind es um 15 grad. ein ganz anderer herbst also (bislang).

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  5. Enjoy your break, Tanja. Given the speed with which things change in your region – as illustrated by your first two photos – I can’t begin to imagine what your next post will reveal. Hopefully, at the very least, Hummy will have moved south.

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    • Thank you for the good wishes, Mr. P. The outlook from our house has reverted from wintry back to autumnal, and I assume Hummy finally had enough of the ups and downs and decided to leave. Let’s hope he will arrive at a location where he can be warm and well-fed until next spring.
      I wish you and Mrs. P a pleasant November.

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  8. Amazing to still be seeing a hummingbird. Snow fell here overnight too. We’ve replaced the hummingbird feeder with suet for the winter. Hope you have a good break, Tanja.

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  10. I once had a single robin that lingered for weeks in winter, long after the flock it arrived with had departed. I felt a combination of curiousity and compassion when I watched it. It wasn’t injured, although it occasionally sat on the edge of a feeder and scanned the sky, as though looking for its companions. I started putting out mealworms for it, and it gobbled them down enthusiastically. Eventually, it was gone.

    I found this interesting question and response on the Cornell site. Apparently if you keep that feeder filled, your hummingbird will be fine.

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    • “Combination of curiosity and compassion” summarizes well what might go through our minds when we are confronted with birds out of place or season.
      Our hummingbird might have heeded my repeated entreaties to move on, and I hope he has reached his destination.
      I also know of someone in the Denver area who helped a hummingbird survive through the winter. I wouldn’t have minded trying, but I knew it would not have been possible this year since we are getting ready to leave. Let’s hope that “all is well that ends well” can be applied to our late visitor.

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    • I’m always amazed at the changeability of our weather, despite having experienced it repeatedly. A few days after I published my post, all the snow was gone. And Hummy seemed to have waited for November 1, as I haven’t seen him again since Oct. 31. Let’s hope he is in a warm place with many blooming flowers.

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  15. Wow, it was a bit of a shock to scroll down and see all that snow! I hope that Hummy builds himself up with the sugar-water that you’re providing. Best of luck, little bird!
    Have a good break and a good November too Tanja!

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  16. I’m certainly glad you had food out for stragglers, but this one doesn’t seem to know that his/her welcome is overstayed. There must be a warm place it’s hiding out in between feedings. There was a case on the news about a house that put up a heat lamp for slow migrating hummies. Eventually the urge to migrate will kick in, hopefully before it becomes a hummy-sicle.

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  17. We had a few flurries this past week but nothing to speak of and certainly not at all like your accumulation. It does look lovely but we can do without it for a few more weeks…or months.
    Migrating birds are pretty hardwired to go when the time is right. An early snowfall can catch them off guard but it’ll take more than feeders to change their genetic tendencies.

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    • All that snow has since melted, Steve, and it might be a while before we see more of it here, too.
      I suspect that at least some of the birds who miss their usual migration window have some kind of problem and might not survive. I hope ours was merely young and unexperienced and has since arrived at a more welcoming destination.

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  19. Several seasonal stages of nature in so short a period seems unusual, and yet probably the unusual thing would be for such abrupt changes not to occur every now and then.

    It sounds like this time Gute Reise may indeed be in order.

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    • Vielen Dank für die guten Wünsche, Steve.

      Extreme fluctuations in weather are quite common here, and even though I know this, they never cease to amaze me. All the snow melted within a few days and we are back in autumn now, just with fewer leaves.

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  20. Thank you for sharing your autumn scenes and especially the visiting hummer. We are still awaiting our first snowfall here in central Florida – okay, that is not going to happen. The mornings are cooler and I’m just fine with that.

    We hope all is well and look forward to your return to blogging.
    Take good care.

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    • Thank you, Wally. Careful what you wish for. A foot of snow all at once is bad enough here, but I suspect everything would come to a complete standstill in Florida.
      Wishing you and Gini a pleasant November.
      Tanja

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  22. Liebe Tanja, unseren heutigen Novembertag verbringen wir hier im Bergischen Land mit moderaten Temperaturen (ca. 11 Grad), mäßigem Wind und einem grau-weiß-blau gemusterten Himmel. Meine dicke Winterjacke hängt noch im Schrank und die gefütterten Stiefel warten im Keller auf ihren Einsatz. Aber wer weiß, vielleicht werden wir demnächst auch von solch überraschenden Wetterkapriolen überrumpelt, wie du sie beschreibst. Danke für diesen unterhaltsamen Wetterbericht mit Vögelchen!
    Liebe Grüße aus der Herbstsonne…..von Rosie

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    • Vielen Dank für den netten Kommentar, liebe Rosie, und entschuldige bitte die verspätete Antwort.
      Ich hoffe, Du hast Deine Herbstsonne noch lange genossen und wurdest von extremen Wetterkapriolen verschont.
      Mit den besten Wünschen zum Jahresende,
      Tanja

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  23. That is rather a shocking sight – both the quick transition (no white accumulation here yet) and to have a hummer hanging around that late is a surprise. All of ours have moved on many weeks ago. I wish the little guy the best of luck – safe travels.

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    • Sorry for my very belated response.
      I have thought–and dreamed–of this hummingbird a few times since the week captured in this post and I hope he is sunning himself in some warm climate farther south.
      And I hope you are staying warm and cozy as well as the year nears its end.
      Best,
      Tanja

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    • Yes, Deborah, it is Quail Lake in the header. I don’t live far away and visit there often.
      Thank you for your comment. I apologize for my very late response.
      Best wishes for the end of the year.
      Tanja

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