The Bird Feeders at Lost Maples State Natural Area

As our second time visiting Lost Maples State Natural Area, this time around was much quieter, though holiday weekend crowds were starting to pick up by the time we left the park over Memorial Day weekend. We arrived at mid-day and decided to hike on the west loop trail and park at the upper parking area. We had lunch next to a really cool bird blind and were able to sit and scope out feeding hummingbirds and this western scrub jay.

We weren’t quite positive as to which hummingbird species this was while we were watching them zoom around the feeders, but it felt like they were something different, or perhaps the female ruby-throated hummingbirds.

Looking them up after I got home I felt confident they were just female ruby-throateds but then I looked at the bird species checklist for the park and noticed the black-chinned hummingbird females look very similar. In fact, the descriptions say they can be hard to distinguish.

So, I’m not quite sure which ones they are, or perhaps they are both. If there is someone out with more birding experience than me, please chime in and correct me!

It was great to get a shot of one of them on an ashe-juniper instead of sitting on the feeder. They would zip over to the junipers and sit for 30 seconds or so before heading back to the feeders.

If you’ve got some time when visiting, definitely stop and check out the bird blind and see what’s hanging out at the feeders!