Hi Dan and all,
In 2008, there's a Rufous in MD, and in 2006 there was some other "western" hummer seen there. Yet I am told that I didn't see a Broad-billed in my yard when I lived in Utah (even though one weas spotted in Wyoming/Idaho in the spring and they have to pass thru Utah on their way back to Arizona) in 2004 or Western Gulls in Utah in 2005....puhlease.
If birds can (and do) go hundreds of miles out of their "normal" ranges (can you say Western Kingbird or Neotropic Cormorant?), why can't they go a few?
The more I bird and follow bird lists, the more I realize that those that are called and think they are "experts", are nothing but ex-spurts, unknown drips of water. The next person that I hear or say, "You couldn't have seen that here...", as I think of those of you that told me I didn't see Wood Thrushes in October near Paper Mill Flats, off the bike path...
My point has always been that the birds don't read the books and just do what they can to find food and habitat to survive (do any of you EVER wonder why their ranges are EXPANDING and yet there are fewer of them?). We just put the "experts" up on pedestals they don't belong on. Most of them aren't even ornithologists. Yet they are the High Priests.
I'm waiting for one to turn this guy into a Ruby-throat, just like they turned my Broad-billed into a Black-chinned, which it wasn't (I had three sprecies of hummers at my feeder that summer, and all three behaved differently...oops, I can't use behavior as a "field mark", say the experts (yet they do it all the time).
I was todl by a record guy here that I could never see a Golden-winged Warbler where I am, even though I've seen Blue-winged and a Brewster's. Well, since a lot of birds return to where they were born, how does a Brewster's get here? My record guy was silent. And they wonder why I don't respect them?
Sorry, I didn't mean to do this, but someone has to. Isn't it about time real people can see real birds and be right?
Oh, I can't see Boat-tailed Grackles near Towson even though my field guides says I can. Too far inland, the experts say.
Richard
> Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:01:58 -0400
> From:
> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Rufous
> To:
>
> Helen et all,
>
> In a few minutes, I will scan and post the photos that the homeowner
> took of her visiting male Rufous Hummingbird. I didn't ask about the
> possibility of entertaining lots of visitors, and of course, the bird
> did not appear while I was present. I'll keep you posted on any
> updates should I hear anything.
>
> My blog's address is: http://wahzoh.blogspot.com/
>
> Good Birding,
>
> Dan Haas
> West Annapolis, MD
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 2:32 PM, Helen Horrocks <> wrote:
> > Bruce Peterjohn and Dan Haas have both seen photos of the bird. It is a adult male but not seen today.
> > Thanks for everyone's help.
> >
> > Helen Horrocks
> > Ijamsville, Fred. Co., MD
> > hlh_37~at~yahoo.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
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