![]() They are directed to these wintering sitesīy the genes of ancestors that have wintered there successfully. It is, in our opinion, a decision over which these To take the element of chance out of the equation in their selection of Not just on the Gulf coast, where new Rufous occur year after year would appear The fact that we have some very localized areas all over the Southeast, That defect in the gene that controls migration is now normal for this U.S. May well have been genetically altered some untold number of generations ago, It is our belief that although their ancestors Ornithological community and writers as vagrants, wanderers, lost, off course, We are now calling non-tropical birds have been generally referred to by the What cannot be denied is that the Rufous that we do encounter year after If there are plumage or structural differences that would support such a Record and photograph those Rufous that we encounter in an effort to determine Species of hummingbirds for separate races. Individuals might be considered a separate race. Population of Rufous might even suggest that now or in the future these Individuals have returned 3, 4 and even 5 years in a row. Original winter banding location this season (winter 1997/98). Supported by 22 individual return birds being recaptured at or near there Population is composed of birds that are no longer ‘tropical’ birds. ![]() It would appear to us that a part of the Rufous hummingbird Have captured and banded over 100 Rufous in our study area. ![]() Our own HBSG studies have now painted anĮven broader picture of where these birds live in winter. Louisiana, started the furor with her pioneering work that located hundreds of First, our good friend and mentor, Nancy Newfield of Enter the role ofĪmateurs in ornithology. Like I’m quoting here from your friendly field guide. There appears to be a mass exodus back to the warmer climate of Mexico. Must be accomplished ‘before the snow flies’. Seward, Alaska, we have observed adult males on breeding territory and femalesįlying with nesting materials in June. In the state of Georgia in May, we have had adult males andĪdult females on site within three miles of each other. Gives us pause to speculate about the accuracy of what we now know as their That we have documented Rufous in the Southeast in every month except June Nesting had been documented in other areas of the United States. I would not be surprised to learn that Rufous Southwestern Alberta, British Columbia and as far north as Southeastern Alaska Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Central Idaho, Western Montana, They are by far the mostĬommon of all the winter hummers that we encounter. They are beautiful and hateful, real ‘junk yard dogs’. Most hardy of all the hummer species that nest in the United States and Canada. Residence of now Life Member Ellen Cunningham. One of our first Rufous of the ‘winter season’ of 1995/96 was at the new Of the Southeast each year, they are no less special. Although we certainly find Rufous to be a regular winter resident Hordes of people that visited the home of Ellen Cunningham to see this very They wanted measurementsĪnd weight and photographs. Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, wanted to know how we could have captured andīanded a bird in an area so completely out of range. I remember the first Rufous we captured and banded,Īn adult male in Mountain Brook, Alabama, in August 1987. There simply is not enough time to check out all ‘brownish’ hummer in the late 80’s, till now where we get 500 such reportsĪnnually, it never grows old. Would regularly drive 600 or 700 miles to investigate a single reported Starting from the time that Martha Gail and I What you will read here will surely be refined and updated in the future by other qualified researchers, including current members of our staff. We are engaged in that search, thanks to the generosity of our members. As with any scientific endeavor, the truth is constantly revealing itself to those that systematically search for it. We will be giving some opinions based on our work and observation both in the hand and in the field. This is the first installment in a series on hummingbirds that we have encountered in the Southeastern United States as part of our study of this wonderful family of birds.
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