Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 18:14:13 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Frantz Subject: Baltimore County Hummer MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The following sighting was sent to Lanny Chambers of St. Louis, MO who=20 forwarded it to HUMNET.=20 Parkton is in northern Baltimore County west of Rt 83. Apparently the mystery observer knows no MD birders.=20 Gail Frantz Old Hanover Rd Reisterstown, MD I am the person who submitted the March 27 sighting of a hummingbird in=20 Parkton, MD (21120) and I wanted to email you to let you know this isn't a=20 hoax or a mistaken observation.=A0 My feeder, mounted from a window as it ha= s=20 been for two years, is not yet up.=A0 I was standing right next to the windo= w,=20 and saw a hummer buzzing around the spot where the feeder hangs. Then he did a lap around the perimeter of the window, as they've often done=20 to let me know the feeder is empty.=A0 I know hummingbirds pretty well, size= ,=20 wing speed, behavior (at least at my window!) etc. and this was clearly a=20 hummingbird.=A0 It looked, however, to be more consistent with a rufous, rat= her=20 than ruby-throated, although the light made it difficult to be sure. I=20 haven't seen any rufous at the feeder before, although I understand they've been spotted here before.=A0 I swear to you I=20 would not prematurely report this unless I was undoubtedly sure! Assuming you don't think I'm a crackpot, what do you make of this early=20 observation?=A0 Anything to do with a particularly mild winter, or is that=20 irrelevant b/c they are guided by hours of daylight? =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================