Young Costa's Hummer

This young male Costa's keeps all others away from his feeder, including larger Anna's. The good news is, he's brave enough to let me get within 4' of him for photos. He has a lump on the front of his neck, mostly on the right side. Can birds have goiters? Anyway, I've named him Lumpy. These were taken with a 5DIII + 70-200 f/4L IS.

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IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oa7Y​nV

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oa6Q​Zd

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oror​WJ

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oror​YY

Great set Moose.

Thanks, Peter

Great detail. I like the last one.

Very nice LV,

He's a cutie Moose!
It's amazing how some birds are so much more tolerant than others of our intrusions.
Don't know about goiter in birds....maybe it's a thyroid problem

Thanks, guys.

Mmmm well I have graves disease but I have never heard of such a thing. Im thinking birds are not the same as humans.!! But I am not sure of where there thyroid is.??


Ok so I looked it up and YES it very well could be a goitre. and after reading up on it there have been birds around here with what could have had a thyroid problem. I had a chickadee that had feathers sticking out at odd angles and were not covering his body correctly and this may have been a thyroid problem!!

And He probably doesn't feel he has the energy to fly when you approach him or he notices your there and so he sits, bin there done that!!

Pondrader wrote in post #17052898
...And He probably doesn't feel he has the energy to fly when you approach him or he notices your there and so he sits, bin there done that!!

Well, he's got plenty of energy to chase every other hummer out of our back yard. In fact he has laid claim to two feeders. I've had several Costa's over the years that seem to tolerate my presence very well, some letting me get within inches. One would even follow me around, perching on whatever tree or shrub I was closest to. Black-chinned and Anna's are a different story.

And thanks for the info. Very interesting. One of the hatchlings a couple years back had a lump on its neck, but we watched him grow to adolescence with no apparent ill effects.

Great job, Brother Moose.
Al

Well taken, lovely images Moose.

Thanks, Al, Ted. Appreciated.

Wow great set.

Beautiful shots Moose. What a pretty hummingbird.

Ya I hear ya LV... I have birds that I can touch and ones that will sit right beside me or land on me but we were talking about a bird with a thyroid problem. I killed my thyroid before it killed me. I'm not in any way surprised he likes you your a hell of a photographer and he dosent know many.