Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 09:20:56 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul Mocko Subject: Re: Hummingbird at the Smithsonian Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Laura Farron wrote to VA-Bird on Mon. Nov. 17: ?A hummingbird was sighted and observed for an extended period of time in the Ripley Gardens in SW D.C. (between Arts & Industries and the Hirshorn Museums) at 1:45 p.m. on November 17. It was concentrating on a large patch of blue Salvia guaranitica. If entering the gardens from the Mall, to your right, behind the island with the large red Japanese Maple, is a long, curving, raised flowerbed.? Thanks to Laura I stopped by the Ripley Garden this morning and saw a hummingbird from 7:55 AM to 8:00 AM. It was in the same location as Laura?s post. I had binoculars and noted a very brown cap extending to the eye, a decurved bill, very light rufous coloration on the sides of the breast, and streaking in two distinct lines on only one side of the throat. It was very actively feeding, and allowed me to be within 20 feet of its feeding/resting. The entire time I observed the bird it was in shade. I hope to look for the bird later today. Identification assistance on or off-line will is appreciated. Paul Mocko McLean, VA paulbirds19 at hotmail dot com. >From: JAMES FELLEY >Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding >To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM >Subject: [MDOSPREY] Hummingbird at the Smithsonian >Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 08:35:57 -0500 > >An unidentified hummingbird has been seen in the Mary Ripley Garden >(between the Arts and Industries Building and the Hirshhorn Museum) >since Monday, Nov 17. It was described to me by Janet Draper, the >gardener, and has been reported on the Virginia list (which I read via > http://birdingonthe.net >because I would never subscribe to such a thing). > I saw it this morning on my way in to work, on the Mall entrance >side of the garden. It looked like an _Archilochus_ type female, with >no trace of rufous that I could see. Its beak was not very decurved, it >did not have a greyish forehead, but it did twitch its tail a lot as it >fed >(2 votes for Ruby-throated, one for Black-chinned). I got a long look >at it from the front as it perched, and brief looks at its back and >tail as > >it fed. The dawn light was poor, but if there had been rufous, I >should have been able to see it. > Note that there has been a late hummingbird in the garden in fall >of 2000 and 2001, and Janet says she saw one last year too. The one(s) >I saw saw in 2000 and 2001 looked like this one. > Jim > >Jim Felley >Smithsonian Institution >felleyj@si.edu > >======================================================================= >To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >======================================================================= _________________________________________________________________ Say ?goodbye? to busy signals and slow downloads with a high-speed Internet connection! Prices start at less than $1 a day average. https://broadband.msn.com (Prices may vary by service area.) ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================