Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 10:20:50 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Steve Huy Subject: Re: Hummingbird migration MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In any case, I recommend immediate release of the bird. Release it where it was trapped and it will likely stay around if a bander wants to trap it. Do not hold it pending ID by a bander; even banders do not have the authority to hold a bird more than 24 hours, and only then in limited circumstances. A rehab center has no authority to hold any healthy bird. Keeping this bird is a violation of state and federal regulations and could result in fines and/or revocation of the centers permits. I'm sure this group is aware but... Hummingbirds can be found here in the winter. Banders are discovering that some species sometimes stay late. Others travel through this area on their migration. The discovery is relatively new, as I understand, and not yet understood. Have we just not noticed? Is it a new Migration pattern? Mary Gustafson of the North American Bird Banding Lab and Scott Weidensaul, the natural history author, are both banding late hummers in this region. Should you notice one let them know or contact me and I will pass on the information. Steve Huy Middletown, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================