Rare hummingbird turns Glendora family’s new yard into tourist attraction. Butterflies, grasshoppers and other creatures also come around since they traded grass for less thirsty native landscape. But only ‘BB’ has a fan club.

San Gabriel Valley Tribune
By BROOKE STAGGS
February 28, 2024

Over the past few weeks, a couple hundred people have flocked from Northern California, Arizona and everywhere in between to stake out a quiet neighborhood in Glendora.
They come bearing binoculars, telephoto lenses, and a shared mission: To catch sight of “BB.”
That’s the name birders have bestowed on an elusive broad-billed hummingbird that is now calling Kristin Joseph’s flower-filled front yard, home.
He might not be quite as eye-popping as the snowy owl that captivated people for several weeks in January of 2023 after it veered off course and nested in north Orange County. But since BB’s variety of petite, fast-flying hummingbirds are usually only found in the canyons and woodlands of Mexico and southern Arizona, not Glendora, they can be tricky for local enthusiasts to check off their birding bucket lists.
“This is one that you don’t typically get to see in our area,” said Evelyn Serrano, director of the Audubon Center at Debs Park in Montecito Heights.
Joseph credits the fact that she and her husband have spent the past couple of years converting their yard into a paradise for pollinators. And while BB is definitely their most famous guest to date, she said they’ve enjoyed a steady parade of new visitors ever since they traded their thirsty lawn for drought-tolerant native plants.
“We’ve gotten so many new different species of butterflies. We’ve had grasshoppers, which I hadn’t seen in years. I had praying mantises, which I had not ever had,” Joseph said. “And I have a plethora of birds in my yard all day long.”
With BB, Joseph said she heard the difference even before she could see it.
As an amateur birder, she always pays attention to the visitors that wing through her yard. So when she noticed a bird humming an original tune, distinct from the familiar song she hears whenever Anna’s variety hummingbirds drop in for a drink, Joseph grabbed her binoculars.
The tiny bird’s bright red beak was the next clue. Joseph’s birding books told her she was looking at a broad-billed hummingbird, and, based on its coloring, very likely a male. So, two weeks ago, she logged the sighting on eBird, a popular online database run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Someone from the lab contacted her, asking for pictures to verify the sighting. She loaded two photos on the site Feb. 11 and said people quickly began reaching out to ask if they could come see BB’s red beak, dark tail and iridescent body for themselves.
Since then, dozens of photos of BB sipping on native plant nectar in Joseph’s yard have been uploaded to the eBird site.
“It’s just been the nicest group of people,” Joseph said. “Someone left a whole thing of sugar on my porch to make more hummingbird food. A few people have left gift cards and thank you notes. They have just been so thrilled to see this bird.”
One woman told Joseph she was supposed to go with a group to Arizona to try to see a broad-billed hummingbird recently but missed the trip because she was sick. So when she heard about BB sightings not far from where she lives, Joseph said she showed up wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with a picture of a hummingbird.
“They’ve been very respectful and very happy to see that I had transformed my yard, because it’s kind of like a little habitat.”

www.sgvtribune.com/

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"Those birds that forage and nest around human habitations become accustomed to people and show little fear in their presence. Cactus Wrens are extremely curious and closely inspect everything within their domain, often entering sheds and parked cars when the doors or windows are left open. They often sing from an exposed perch and on the ground they may run swiftly but usually fly if going any distance. Flights are usually short, direct, and close to the ground.

Cactus Wrens forage in shrubs and trees for insects or on the ground where they diligently search for food. Small debris is often lifted with the bill while the wren peers beneath for hidden prey. Food items include beetles, ants,

wasps, weevils, grasshoppers, bugs and spiders, as well as the fruits of various cacti, elderberry, hackberry and cascara buckthorn. In southern Texas the facial feathers of those wrens eating the tunas of prickly pear are often stained reddish by the juice. " txtbba.tamu.edu

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It was exciting to watch the Vermilion Flycatcher puff up his hair and chest and display his outrageous beauty.
Another birder gave us precise directions.
"Many birders keep lists of species they've seen during exceptional days or during their lives. Such a list might look like so many grocery items, but each checkmark is actually shorthand for some encounter or experience. For every bird scribbled in a journal or scrawled on a napkin, there is a story." deseretnews.com

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"The dapper Snowy Plover scurries across sandy habitats as inconspicuously as a puff of sea foam blown by the wind. These pale brown shorebirds are highlighted with a black or brown partial collar and a short black bill. They are hardy survivors that forage for invertebrates on ocean beaches and in desolate salt flats and alkaline lakes. Snowy Plovers make nearly invisible nests on beaches, where they are easily disturbed by humans, dogs, and beach vehicles."
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“Hooded” is something of an understatement for this extravagantly crested little duck. Adult males are a sight to behold, with sharp black-and-white patterns set off by chestnut flanks. Females get their own distinctive elegance from their cinnamon crest. Hooded Mergansers are fairly common on small ponds and rivers, where they dive for fish, crayfish, and other food, seizing it in their thin, serrated bills. They nest in tree cavities; the ducklings depart with a bold leap to the forest floor when only one day old."
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