It’s Him!

[cabin man]

My ASY male that has been hanging around for a while now has got me thinking. I kept wondering if it was the same male from last year but after the way the season ended and the fact that he came in so late, I didn’t think it was him till yesterday. He has white markings on his shoulders and I remembered that the SY male from last year had the same. He also chose the same gourd rack that he nested in last year. I had removed the gourd when I did not think he was coming back. It wasn’t a perfect set up especially with the wing entrapment situation. I changed all other gourds over and perhaps that’s why I was not able to identify him going back to the same gourd.But yesterday I was sure it was him. He went to the exact Dogwood tree with his mate to get leaves. Out of all the trees in the yard, he went right back to the same one. I know it’s him!

[-=DKC=-]

My ASY male that has been hanging around for a while now has got me thinking. I kept wondering if it was the same male from last year but after the way the season ended and the fact that he came in so late, I didn’t think it was him till yesterday. He has white markings on his shoulders and I remembered that the SY male from last year had the same. He also chose the same gourd rack that he nested in last year. I had removed the gourd when I did not think he was coming back. It wasn’t a perfect set up especially with the wing entrapment situation. I changed all other gourds over and perhaps that’s why I was not able to identify him going back to the same gourd.But yesterday I was sure it was him. He went to the exact Dogwood tree with his mate to get leaves. Out of all the trees in the yard, he went right back to the same one. I know it’s him!

I believe you.

Some people would be skeptical but I can tell a few of my individuals apart based on behavior. I had a SY female last year that "played hard to get" with her mate, even sleeping in separate gourds for awhile or flying off for the night with another colony. None of my other birds did that. This year that same female returned but her mate did not. She got a new mate and acted the exact same way as last year. Of course the fact that she chose the same gourd as last year helped me ID her.

This year I have a SY female that I call "Flipper" because she catches flipped crickets better than anyone else and feeds them all to her 6 babies. And she will kite over my head waiting for me to flip one. If she returns next year I think I'll be able to ID her by the way she flies when I feed her.