I thought there would be others interested in this!!!
 
sue
--- On Mon, 1/18/10, David Holmes <> wrote:


From: David Holmes <>
Subject: Your last year's winter hummingbird
To: 
Date: Monday, January 18, 2010, 12:43 AM


Hi Sue,   I have really delightful news for you!!   Your little lady Rufous Hummingbird from last year is happily defending a feeder in Athens, Georgia right now.  A bander caught her on Saturday morning and said she was a very healthy bird and not particularly willing to get caught.  The bird has been at that feeder since some time in November.  These encounters are way too rare so this is a super treat.  It is our first bird that someone else has picked up.  We caught a bird last month in Reston, VA that had been banded on 15 January 2009 in New Bern, NC and my sub-permittee who moved to Texas caught a bird in the Shenandoah Valley in January 2007 that had been banded in Alabama the previous January.  We've also had 4 of our birds come back to their feeders for a second winter.  Since we've only put bands on 34 birds since I started doing this in winter 2006-7, our re-encounter rate is off the chart.  You obviously took great care of your
 bird!!     Happy New Year!!     David Holmes