Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 10:43:11 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Re: SI hummers In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20031209065146.00aad9f0@pop.earthlink.net> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit One interesting thing that has come out of hummingbird studies in the last couple of decades is what we consider "vagrants" might simply be a natural process of birds exploring and occupying new winter ranges. When I first went to Louisiana in the mid-1980s, everyone was very excited about all the hummingbird "vagrants" around. A friend and I managed to see Rufous, Allen's, two Buff-bellied and a Black-chinned at various feeders between New Orleans and Cameron Parish in the west within a few days. However, some of these birds were banded that year and lo and behold! they came back the next year. And the next. I think the Allen's returned for quite a few years to the same backyard. Al the above-mentioned species (and more) are now considered regular winter visitors along the Gulf coast. Were these birds true lost vagrants or were they simply reflecting a natural (possibly genetic) variability in migration? Certainly those which found a suitable habitat and survived might well have benefited from avoiding a long migration route. One might speculate that the expansion of hummingbird feeding could be providing "new" habitat which the birds will exploit as much as possible. Of course there is a huge difference between Louisiana in winter and Washington, but there does seem to be an increase in wintering Rufous hummers in the mid-Atlantic since the mid-80s. When the bird in Takoma Park showed up in 1988/89, it was quite a phenomenon, and one could find birders there on most nice days throughout its stay. Today such a bird is much more routine, although always nice to see! I don't know whether the two at the Smithsonian will survive or move on, or whether we (that is, humans) should intervene beyond providing food. Sort of a philosophical question although I do worry about the little mites, tough as they apparently are! Gail Mackiernan Silver Spring, MD M, Arlene Ripley at piwa@EARTHLINK.NET wrote: > I've been thinking about this too--it's one of the reasons I don't > like viewing poor vagrants, doomed to die. I know it's all part of > nature but I couldn't help but thinking about alternatives. One which > came to mind was placing the birds in the National Botanic Garden > buildings for the winter. I would think they could survive just fine > with feeders and a large space for them to fly about. > > Arlene Ripley > Calvert County, MD (but on the "other" coast at the moment) > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================