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2 Sep Ruby Rescue [Anthony Hill ] 1 Sep Fwd: [LABIRD-L] Ruby Throated Rescue ... a Happy Ending [jwnix ] 31 Aug A Dozen Hummingbirds Banded [Melissa Pappas ] 30 Aug New arrivals [] 29 Dec 2 Selasphorus in Gramercy [Tom & Eloise Sylvest ] 28 Aug An Adventurous Diner [Nancy L Newfield ] 28 Aug winter hummers [Sandra Lewis ] 27 Aug Re: Anyone keeping up with winter hums? - Host does not publish SPF (SPF None) [Scott Knaus ] 27 Aug Re: Anyone keeping up with winter hums? [Scott Knaus ] 27 Aug Anyone keeping up with winter hums? [miriam ] 27 Aug Hilton Pond 08/22/10 (Front Yards & Sourwoods) ["Bill Hilton Jr." ] 26 Aug First observed Rufous in Paulina, LA [Celeste Louque ] 25 Aug Re: Is it too late to prune abutilon? [Susan Orwig ] 25 Aug Is it too late to prune abutilon? [Cindy Macolini ] 25 Aug Re: FW: [HUMNET-L] [Al and Yvonne ] 25 Aug FW: [HUMNET-L] [Dottie ] 24 Aug No Subject [Tom Trenchard ] 24 Aug Re: Sourwood & Hummingbirds [Susan Campbell ] 24 Aug Re: Sourwood & Hummingbirds ["Bill Hilton Jr." ] 24 Aug Re: Sourwood & Hummingbirds [Susan Campbell ] 23 Aug Re: Hummingbirds Like the AC in Hot Weather [Dottie ] 23 Aug Hummingbirds Like the AC in Hot Weather [Kathleen Arnold ] 23 Aug Rufous at Hummingbird Hill, Covington [Al and Yvonne ] 23 Aug Re: Hilton Pond 08/11/10 (New River Hummingbirds) [Penny Durnin ] 23 Aug Female Rufous Update [Noel ] 23 Aug Rufous at Peyton Place [Noel ] 23 Aug Re: Sourwood & Hummingbirds [Nancy L Newfield ] 22 Aug Sourwood & Hummingbirds ["Bill Hilton Jr." ] 22 Aug Hilton Pond 08/11/10 (New River Hummingbirds) ["Bill Hilton Jr." ] 21 Aug Rufous in Maine [Anthony Hill ] 20 Aug Re: #2 Whooo Hooooo [Maurice Duvic ] 20 Aug #2 Whooo Hooooo [Beth Maniscalco ] 19 Aug 'nother Rufous [Nancy L Newfield ] 17 Aug Re: Close focus binoculars [faked-from] ["whitegables AT juno.com" ] 16 Aug FW: [BIRDBAND] Any hummingbird banders in NW Ohio? ["Ingold, James" ] 16 Aug Re: Color-marked RTHU?? [Bob Sargent ] 16 Aug Re: Color-marked RTHU?? [Suzanne ] 16 Aug Re: Close focus binoculars [faked-from] [Dick Burkepile ] 16 Aug To Cluster or Not? [Haji Warf ] 16 Aug Re: Color-marked RTHU?? ["Bill Hilton Jr." ] 16 Aug Re: Color-marked RTHU?? [Bob Sargent ] 16 Aug Color-marked RTHU?? [Robert Protz ] 15 Aug Re: Swarming Ruby-throated [Dottie ] 15 Aug Re: Swarming Ruby-throated [Dottie ] 15 Aug Re: Swarming Ruby-throated [Bob Sargent ] 14 Aug Swarming Ruby-throated [Lanny Chambers ] 14 Aug `Lots of birds, eastern PA [DAVID KOCH ] 14 Aug Re: Whoo-Hooo!! [cindy copeland ] 14 Aug Whoo-Hooo!! [Beth Maniscalco ] 14 Aug Re: Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' [Cindy Macolini ] 14 Aug Re: Abutilons [Cindy Macolini ] 13 Aug Re: Rufous over the Ocean [Ross Hawkins ] 13 Aug Re: Rufous over the Ocean [Nancy L Newfield ] 13 Aug Rufous over the Ocean [Ross Hawkins ] 12 Aug Re: Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' [Kathi Johnson Rock ] 12 Aug Re: Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' [Susan Orwig ] 12 Aug Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' [Nancy L Newfield ] 11 Aug Re: Group of hummingbirds [Bob Sargent ] 11 Aug S C R U M [Maurice Duvic ] 11 Aug Re: Group of hummingbirds [Maurice Duvic ] 10 Aug Group of hummingbirds [Rachel Powless ] 10 Aug Re: Triple the Activity [Bob Sargent ] 10 Aug Triple the Activity [Dottie ] 9 Aug Re: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 [Penny Durnin ] 9 Aug UPDATE: Triple the Activity [Haji Warf ] 9 Aug Re: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 ["Power, Robert W." ] 9 Aug Re: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 [Bill Benner ] 9 Aug Re: Abutilons [Scott Knaus ] 9 Aug hummingbirds in WMass [Anthony Hill ] 9 Aug Re: hummingbirds in so. Florida [Backes ] 8 Aug Re: hummingbirds in so. Florida [Lanny Chambers ] 9 Aug Re: hummingbirds in so. Florida [Maurice Duvic ] 8 Aug Re: hummingbirds in so. Florida [Curtis Croulet ] 8 Aug Re: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 [Penny Durnin ] 8 Aug Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 [Bill Benner ] 8 Aug Re: Abutilons [Nancy L Newfield ] Subject: Ruby Rescue From: Anthony Hill <anhinga13 AT HOTMAIL.COM> Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2010 08:51:56 -0400 What a great story and photo ! Sign that young lady up for training with Ms. Newfield ! Anthony Hill S. Hadley, MA | Préservons l'environnement - Avez-vous réellement besoin d'imprimer ce courriel ? | | Please consider the environment - Do you really need to print this e-mail? | | Piense en verde. Antes de imprimir este email hágase la siguiente pregunta, es necesario?|** BUY a duck stamp at the Post Office and conserve habitat ** Subject: Fwd: [LABIRD-L] Ruby Throated Rescue ... a Happy Ending From: jwnix <jwnix AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 21:12:44 -0500 this was posted on LABIRD and I have Tom's permission to post here...great story!!! he also included another picture for us.... Here is a hummer picture that you are welcome to pass on to the humnetters as well. http://i27.tinypic.com/v7h74o.jpg Begin forwarded message: From: thomas finnie Date: August 27, 2010 7:27:14 PM CDT To: LABIRD-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [LABIRD-L] Ruby Throated Rescue ... a Happy Ending LaBirders, Our 9 year old Grand Daughter Adi spotted a hummer in the clutches of a cat and raced to rescue it as fast as her little legs would go. The startled cat let go of the hummer and ran off.. Unfortunately the hummer was on the ground and unable to fly. Adi carefully picked it up, cradled it in her hands and took it to her Mom. They fabricated a soft bed of cotton in a bird cage and placed it there to rest. About an hour later the bird was active. Adi wanted so much to keep it for a pet but her mother explaned that it must be set free. Adi softly lifted the hummer from its cage and the tiny Ruby Throated Hummer clutched fast to Adi's thumb. The little hummer looked up at her as if to say, "Thanks for saving my life" and flew high into the air. It landed safely in the top of a tall Pine Tree for a Happy Ending. :) Pictured is the rescued hummer with its delighted, proud young rescuer. http://i38.tinypic.com/142rkvs.jpg Subject: A Dozen Hummingbirds Banded From: Melissa Pappas <ftknoxfox53 AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:08:11 -0700 Again, I am late in my posting, but did want to get the word out. On Aug. 24, Allen Chartier banded 12 new hummingbirds at our house. I'm happy to say that I was again successful as a "retriever." We actually had 15 birds trapped, but two got away due to the trap's door being slower than the birds (not hard to understand) and one bird who was an absolute HOUDINI! I gently placed the bird in the mesh bag and pulled the drawstring tight. I then hung the bag on a hook while I reopened the trap. Between the time I hung the bag on the hook and the time I got down to the table where Allen was banded (no more that 1 or 1.5 minutes), the little stinker found a way out of the bag. Never have seen that before.   Of the birds banded, three were adult males, at least one was an adult female, and there was a hatch-year female, the rest were hatch-year males. (Allen, I think I remember correctly.)   Probably the most amazing sight during the banding were the bees! We have had more honeybees this year than all the other years (6) put together. I managed to keep them out of the hummingbird trap by having 4 saucers filled with nectar (made it 1/3 to make it more attractive than the feeder solution). We had to fill all of those saucers several times. Thank heavens honeybees are not aggressive.   Our hummingbird numbers have steadily increased since last week. At least, I'm seeing more birds at the feeders. The bee numbers, while still impressive, have definitely decreased, so this may be part of the reason I'm seeing more birds. We always keep our feeders out until at least 2 weeks after seeing the last ruby-throated. I also try to keep at least one visual feeder available as long as I possibly can - sometimes late into winter - in hopes that a winter, western migrant may show. In our yard, stranger things HAVE happened. Melissa Pappas Hamburg Township, Livingston County, MI Subject: New arrivals From: vcvance AT AOL.COM Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:25:54 -0400 2 female r/a selasphorus in my garden, F/O 8/26 and 8/29. Let the games begin! Vicki Vance Baton Rouge Subject: 2 Selasphorus in Gramercy From: Tom & Eloise Sylvest <t_esylvest AT COX.NET> Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:04:27 -0600 John and Veronica Sylvest, Gramercy, LA St. James Parish 2 Selasphorus hummingbirds FO 8/28/2010. Kevin Morgan where are you and the weekly hummingbird report? Tom Sylvest Subject: An Adventurous Diner From: Nancy L Newfield <nancy AT CASACOLIBRI.NET> Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:38:37 -0500 Happy Mornin', Humnetters, Oh, I just love a rainy August day. Heat is not a problem and I don't have to drag hoses to water. Hummer traffic has been slow this year, but I am pleased with every hummer I see. This morning, I've seen just one immature male Ruby-throated. He has made the rounds of the Monster Sultan's Turban [Paul Dickson], red Firespike, pink Sinningia sellovii, and a small Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips'. He has also used some newer plants that I had not seen hummers using much before - Sinningia lineata, Cuphea 'Ballistic', and Cuphea laevis 'Starbrite'. It is good to see the new plants getting some action! NLN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nancy L Newfield Casa Colibrí Metairie, Louisiana USA nancy AT casacolibri.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: winter hummers From: Sandra Lewis <s76lewis AT BELLSOUTH.NET> Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:14:40 -0500 I have an adult female rufous in my yard. First observed august 27,2010. I would like a link to the winter hummer list. Calcasieu parish. Sandra Lewis Sulphur, La Subject: Re: Anyone keeping up with winter hums? - Host does not publish SPF (SPF None) From: Scott Knaus <rsknaus AT GECINC.COM> Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:59:49 -0500 Rufous, sorry. My banded adult female has returned and was first seen yesterday, 8-26. Scott Knaus Baton Rouge -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of miriam Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 10:21 AM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] Anyone keeping up with winter hums? - Host does not publish SPF (SPF None) Humnet After weeks of a mysterious computer glitch resulting in being able to recieve but not send email, I'm now back up. I apologize if anyone tried to reach me in this manner and was met with silence. It will take a while to go thru all the emails. Is anyone still keeping up with fall arrivals of "western" hums? My adult male Calliope returned this morning. (Keep your sticky hands/paws OFF, DennisD & Sluggo!) Thanks! MiriamLDavey BatonRougeLA The information contained in this e-mail message is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain information which is privileged, confidential or proprietary. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying or distribution of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender rsknaus AT gecinc.com by return e-mail and delete this email and any copies from your computer. Thank you. Subject: Re: Anyone keeping up with winter hums? From: Scott Knaus <rsknaus AT GECINC.COM> Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:57:18 -0500 My banded adult female has returned and was first seen yesterday, 8-26. Scott Knaus Baton Rouge -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of miriam Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 10:21 AM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] Anyone keeping up with winter hums? - Host does not publish SPF (SPF None) Humnet After weeks of a mysterious computer glitch resulting in being able to recieve but not send email, I'm now back up. I apologize if anyone tried to reach me in this manner and was met with silence. It will take a while to go thru all the emails. Is anyone still keeping up with fall arrivals of "western" hums? My adult male Calliope returned this morning. (Keep your sticky hands/paws OFF, DennisD & Sluggo!) Thanks! MiriamLDavey BatonRougeLA The information contained in this e-mail message is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain information which is privileged, confidential or proprietary. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying or distribution of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender rsknaus AT gecinc.com by return e-mail and delete this email and any copies from your computer. Thank you. Subject: Anyone keeping up with winter hums? From: miriam <athena_9 AT BELLSOUTH.NET> Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:20:48 -0500 Humnet After weeks of a mysterious computer glitch resulting in being able to recieve but not send email, I'm now back up. I apologize if anyone tried to reach me in this manner and was met with silence. It will take a while to go thru all the emails. Is anyone still keeping up with fall arrivals of "western" hums? My adult male Calliope returned this morning. (Keep your sticky hands/paws OFF, DennisD & Sluggo!) Thanks! MiriamLDavey BatonRougeLA Subject: Hilton Pond 08/22/10 (Front Yards & Sourwoods) From: "Bill Hilton Jr." <hilton AT RUBYTHROAT.ORG> Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:51:28 -0400 "This Week at Hilton Pond" we explore our small front yard at the Center, finding and photographing a diverse assemblage of flora and fauna from predatory insects to immature hummingbirds to unexpected orchids. For a photo essay about these organisms that could be hanging out in your own front yard, please see our installment for 22-26 August 2010 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek100822.html . We also pose a question about the importance of Sourwood trees as a hummingbird nectar source. This edition includes the exiting first announcement of how YOU--thanks to the amazing generosity of an alumnus from past Operation RubyThroat expeditions--can go with us for FREE next winter to Costa Rica. If you've always wanted to study hummingbirds in the warm, sunny Neotropics when winter weather is at its worst in North America, here's your big chance to receive one of TWO $1,799 trip scholarships while supporting Hilton Pond Center's education, research, and conservation endeavors. Don't forget to scroll down for a list of birds banded at Hilton Pond during the most recent period, as well as a couple of miscellaneous nature notes. Happy Nature Watching! BILL ========= OPERATION RUBYTHROAT: The Hummingbird Project BILL HILTON JR., Principal Investigator Executive Director Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, 1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA office & cell (803) 684-5852 fax (803) 684-0255 Operation RubyThroat:The Hummingbird Project ( http://www.rubythroat.org ) is a cross-disciplinary international initiative in which students, teachers, and others collaborate to study behavior and distribution of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). All worldwide rights reserved and copyrighted by Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History ( http://www.hiltonpond.org ). Contributions in support of the project may be made via Network for Good at http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=56-2162170 ============= Subject: First observed Rufous in Paulina, LA From: Celeste Louque <cdlouque AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:02:02 -0700 Hi all! I spent the morning of August 25, 2010 watching the h Hi all! I spent the morning of August 25, 2010 watching the hummingbird war in our Paulina yard. Our first Rufous has arrived! Wooowhoo!! We are so EXCITED! She is viciously protecting her territory against at least 2 Ruby-throated hummers.  We are lucky to have so many flowers right now. We have Coral Honeysuckle, Vervain, Fire Bush, Cigar bush, Lady in Red, Black and Blue Salvia, and Brazilian Plume all in bloom. I have 6 small feeders up. We have been enjoying the Rubies for months now and even thought we had 5 individuals in the yard Sunday afternoon.  We think several Rubies have moved on and there are only 1 adult male and an immature/male/female hanging in there. Keep your feeders up and sooner or later you will see Rufous in your yard too. Photos can be viewed on my fickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdlouque/4929647031/  Good birding, Ya'll, Celeste Louque Paulina, LA Subject: Re: Is it too late to prune abutilon? From: Susan Orwig <s.orwig AT SBCGLOBAL.NET> Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:51:27 -0700 I pruned several in July and they died, but maybe it was a combination of factors. I have some that are 15 feet high but I am not touching them until it is cooler. Susan Orwig Houston ________________________________ From: Cindy Macolini To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Sent: Wed, August 25, 2010 4:57:09 PM Subject: [HUMNET-L] Is it too late to prune abutilon? I have one that's hanging over the compost bins. I should have whacked it back to the ground this spring instead of just 4'. It's well over 12' now. Will it put out new growth if I prune now? Cindy Macolini Baton Rouge, LA Subject: Is it too late to prune abutilon? From: Cindy Macolini <cindymacolini1 AT COX.NET> Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:57:09 -0500 I have one that's hanging over the compost bins. I should have whacked it back to the ground this spring instead of just 4'. It's well over 12' now. Will it put out new growth if I prune now? Cindy Macolini Baton Rouge, LA Subject: Re: FW: [HUMNET-L] From: Al and Yvonne <humbirdhill AT BELLSOUTH.NET> Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:14:22 -0500 Dottie, At the end of breeding season, I'm sure that some of the male Ruby-throats need an extra boost! LOL! Looks like the email hijacking virus (or whatever) is working hard to distribute spam. Yvonne and Al Covington, LA Dottie wrote: > I received the e-mail below this morning. Just thought you may want to > know. It's in delete now. > Subject: FW: [HUMNET-L] From: Dottie <yumyumkatts AT VOYAGER.NET> Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:04:13 -0400 I received the e-mail below this morning. Just thought you may want to know. It's in delete now. Dottie, Hickory Hollow Brown County, Indiana (50 miles south of Indianapolis) Lat: 39.371N Lon: 86.261W Zone 5 Elevation: 680 ft -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Tom Trenchard Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 10:21 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] http://rudavyqu.00space.com/sybaxe.html Take her to the world of carnal pleausure aufter poppiyng our vigor-tivamins! Best Vigor -Vitam ins Y ouCa nGetO n-Lin eAre Here,J ustOr derTh em! uOr super remedsei far emn will make yuor organ super-fiurm! Subject: No Subject From: Tom Trenchard <trench19 AT HOTMAIL.COM> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:21:06 -0500 http://rudavyqu.00space.com/sybaxe.html Take her to the world of carnal pleausure aufter poppiyng our vigor-tivamins! Best Vigor -Vitam ins Y ouCa nGetO n-Lin eAre Here,J ustOr derTh em! uOr super remedsei far emn will make yuor organ super-fiurm! Subject: Re: Sourwood & Hummingbirds From: Susan Campbell <susan AT NCAVES.COM> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:19:28 -0700 > > Thanks, Susan. What time of year? That would have been late June-early July I think. It has been awhile... > > Hope all is well. :-) Finally more hummers around--mainly migrants no doubt. Just had a major bummer: a banded ATY male from last summer died from trauma inflicted at the neighbor's. At least they brought it to me (they did not see the band)... On the bright side, that is the only injured hummer I have had turn up on my doorstep this summer All the best, Susan Subject: Re: Sourwood & Hummingbirds From: "Bill Hilton Jr." <hilton AT RUBYTHROAT.ORG> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:52:05 -0400 Thanks, Susan. What time of year? Hope all is well. :-) BILL ====== On Aug 24, 2010, at 1:49 PM, Susan Campbell wrote: > Bill and All, > > I have observed ruby-throated at sourwood here on Ft. Bragg during our > MAPS season on multiple occasions. Do not know what they were doing > exactly but they seemed very interested in the blooms! > > Susan Campbell > Whispering Pines, NC ========= OPERATION RUBYTHROAT: The Hummingbird Project BILL HILTON JR., Principal Investigator Executive Director Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, 1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA office & cell (803) 684-5852 fax (803) 684-0255 Operation RubyThroat:The Hummingbird Project ( http://www.rubythroat.org ) is a cross-disciplinary international initiative in which students, teachers, and others collaborate to study behavior and distribution of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). All worldwide rights reserved and copyrighted by Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History ( http://www.hiltonpond.org ). Contributions in support of the project may be made via Network for Good at http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=56-2162170 ============= Subject: Re: Sourwood & Hummingbirds From: Susan Campbell <susan AT NCAVES.COM> Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:49:58 -0700 Bill and All, I have observed ruby-throated at sourwood here on Ft. Bragg during our MAPS season on multiple occasions. Do not know what they were doing exactly but they seemed very interested in the blooms! Susan Campbell Whispering Pines, NC Subject: Re: Hummingbirds Like the AC in Hot Weather From: Dottie <yumyumkatts AT VOYAGER.NET> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:25:48 -0400 Gosh, if it got to 106* here, everyone in Indiana would die. We have had trouble with our wicked hot and humid summer at the high 90's. The hottest summer I can ever remember here. Cute about the beer barn and the hummers. I had never heard of a bear barn before. Interesting! I have swallowtail butterflies drinking from the hummer feeders and the bird baths as we are in a drought now. Dottie, Hickory Hollow Brown County, Indiana (50 miles south of Indianapolis) Lat: 39.371N Lon: 86.261W Zone 5 Elevation: 680 ft -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Kathleen Arnold Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 11:19 AM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] Hummingbirds Like the AC in Hot Weather Yesterday it got to 106 or 108 here, depending on who you listened to. This in just one in a long string of triple-digit days, and the heightened activity at the birdbath tells me that birds need relief from the heat as much as we do. Last night my husband and I stopped at the drive-thru beer barn. Rather than pulling up to a window, you actually drive through the building, from one big overhead door to the other. We parked outside and walked in so we could take our time to look at the selection of ciders. It is quite comfortable inside, and at least three hummingbirds are taking advantage of the air-conditioning. While talking to the owner I noticed hummingbirds flying near the insulation on the ceiling (the plastic-covered insulation placed on the underside of metal roofs in garages and barns). When they weren't scouting for insects up near the ceiling, they stopped to perch on some wires and looked quite at ease with the activity below. Two of them perched comfortably side by side only about 5 inches apart-I never see them together around here except for the few minutes they tolerate each other at a feeder. I wasn't surprised to see them in a building, since there are two big overhead doors open all day, but of course I was concerned that they might get caught inside at night. I commented to the owner, who said they fly in and out all day, and seem to like the coolness inside. When they first started coming inside, she worried about them being shut in at night and put feeders up in the building, concerned that they would need a drink during the night. There are a few lights left on inside at night in case someone has to come in, so I can't say whether they go into the usual night-time torpor or actually feed and remain active. They definitely use the feeders during the day-in fact she had to move the feeders to more out of the way locations when she realized what the red spots on the floor were from. :-) (I told here they don't need red dye in their nectar.) The woman even thought they might have nested somewhere on the beams near the ceiling. I will have to look for the nest in the future, especially if they repeat their activities next year. It is a seven-day-a-week operation, so the birds are never locked in all day. I know I have had the occasional hummingbird in my garage and my barn, and left doors open for them to find their way out. Since neither of my buildings is cool, they have never remained after their hunting forays, only showing up infrequently inside. Who would have expected to be bird-watching at the beer store! Kate Arnold Paris, TX, 100 mi NE of Dallas 33.6853N 95.6293W Subject: Hummingbirds Like the AC in Hot Weather From: Kathleen Arnold <koscharn AT SUDDENLINK.NET> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:18:45 -0500 Yesterday it got to 106 or 108 here, depending on who you listened to. This in just one in a long string of triple-digit days, and the heightened activity at the birdbath tells me that birds need relief from the heat as much as we do. Last night my husband and I stopped at the drive-thru beer barn. Rather than pulling up to a window, you actually drive through the building, from one big overhead door to the other. We parked outside and walked in so we could take our time to look at the selection of ciders. It is quite comfortable inside, and at least three hummingbirds are taking advantage of the air-conditioning. While talking to the owner I noticed hummingbirds flying near the insulation on the ceiling (the plastic-covered insulation placed on the underside of metal roofs in garages and barns). When they weren't scouting for insects up near the ceiling, they stopped to perch on some wires and looked quite at ease with the activity below. Two of them perched comfortably side by side only about 5 inches apart-I never see them together around here except for the few minutes they tolerate each other at a feeder. I wasn't surprised to see them in a building, since there are two big overhead doors open all day, but of course I was concerned that they might get caught inside at night. I commented to the owner, who said they fly in and out all day, and seem to like the coolness inside. When they first started coming inside, she worried about them being shut in at night and put feeders up in the building, concerned that they would need a drink during the night. There are a few lights left on inside at night in case someone has to come in, so I can't say whether they go into the usual night-time torpor or actually feed and remain active. They definitely use the feeders during the day-in fact she had to move the feeders to more out of the way locations when she realized what the red spots on the floor were from. :-) (I told here they don't need red dye in their nectar.) The woman even thought they might have nested somewhere on the beams near the ceiling. I will have to look for the nest in the future, especially if they repeat their activities next year. It is a seven-day-a-week operation, so the birds are never locked in all day. I know I have had the occasional hummingbird in my garage and my barn, and left doors open for them to find their way out. Since neither of my buildings is cool, they have never remained after their hunting forays, only showing up infrequently inside. Who would have expected to be bird-watching at the beer store! Kate Arnold Paris, TX, 100 mi NE of Dallas 33.6853N 95.6293W Subject: Rufous at Hummingbird Hill, Covington From: Al and Yvonne <humbirdhill AT BELLSOUTH.NET> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:10:21 -0500 Hooray! On Tuesday, August 17th, I first saw the possible adult female Rufous. I heard her the day before. Linda came to catch her on Saturday, but the fussy thing took off for parts unknown. Then Sunday afternoon, right before the thunderstorm, she was back, chasing everything away from the feeders and cussing up a storm. She must be a witch, because we had 3 storms on Sunday. I have been trying to get decent pictures of her left leg, but she is not a friendly or cooperative Rufous. Yvonne and Al Bordelon Covington, LA Subject: Re: Hilton Pond 08/11/10 (New River Hummingbirds) From: Penny Durnin <pendee AT GMAIL.COM> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:19:11 -0400 On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 9:18 PM, Bill Hilton Jr. wrote: > We wandered off to the Mountain State this past week for the first-ever New River Hummingbird Festival in Fayette County WV. For an account of what this was all about, please see our "This Week at Hilton Pond" photo essay for 11-21 August 2010 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek100811.html > > While there don't forget to scroll down for a list of birds banded and recaptured back at Hilton Pond, as well as miscellaneous nature notes and an acknowledgement of recent donors. > > Happy (Still Hot!) Nature Watching! > > BILL > > ========= > > OPERATION RUBYTHROAT: The Hummingbird Project > BILL HILTON JR., Principal Investigator > Executive Director > Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, 1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA > office & cell (803) 684-5852 > fax (803) 684-0255 > > Operation RubyThroat:The Hummingbird Project ( http://www.rubythroat.org ) is a cross-disciplinary international initiative in which students, teachers, and others collaborate to study behavior and distribution of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). All worldwide rights reserved and copyrighted by Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History ( http://www.hiltonpond.org ). Contributions in support of the project may be made via Network for Good at http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=56-2162170 > > ============= > Bill So glad that the 1st year festival was a success. I have posted the link to your new essay on the Hummingbird Forum for members that would like to make the trip for next year -- Penny Durnin Niagara Falls, NY USDA zone 6a Heat zone 4 Sunset climate zone 37 Subject: Female Rufous Update From: Noel <pplace AT CHARTER.NET> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:53:28 -0500 I have now verified using the big lens that the last two digits of her band is 98, this adult female rufous is Ms. Pink for the 5th year! 1. Rufous #1 - An adult female rufous w band on left leg, first observed on 8/22/10. She is perched in the center yard and sports a large central gorget. Verified by band number with the large lens this is “Ms. Pink” with band ending with 9-8 (C25798). Her history is Linda Beall banded as C25798 on 11/26/06 as an immature bird. She has returned 8/25/07, 8/2/08, 7/30/09 and 8/22/10. She generally stays at Peyton Place to about the second week of March. Noel Peyton Slidell, LA Eastern St. Tammany Parish Subject: Rufous at Peyton Place From: Noel <pplace AT CHARTER.NET> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:54:47 -0500 An adult female rufous is cussing up a storm at Peyton Place. Hopefully this will prove to be Ms. Pink returning for her 5th year! Noel Peyton Slidell, LA Eastern St. Tammany Parish Subject: Re: Sourwood & Hummingbirds From: Nancy L Newfield <nancy AT CASACOLIBRI.NET> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:02:07 -0500 Bill, At 10:20 PM 8/22/2010, Bill Hilton Jr. wrote: >Anyone have any experience with Ruby-throated >Hummingbirds nectaring on summer flowers of Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum? > >The Web has mixed information about this, with >various sites saying hummers are/are not attracted to Sourwood blossoms. > >Last week in the West Virginia mountains I saw >RTHU visiting Sourwood flower clusters and the >hummers appeared to be taking nectar; there's a >possibility they were after insects instead. I have no experience one way or the other. I would be glad to hear reports from others. NLN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nancy L Newfield Casa Colibrí Metairie, Louisiana USA nancy AT casacolibri.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Sourwood & Hummingbirds From: "Bill Hilton Jr." <hilton AT RUBYTHROAT.ORG> Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:20:24 -0400 NAN, et al. . . . Anyone have any experience with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds nectaring on summer flowers of Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum? The Web has mixed information about this, with various sites saying hummers are/are not attracted to Sourwood blossoms. Last week in the West Virginia mountains I saw RTHU visiting Sourwood flower clusters and the hummers appeared to be taking nectar; there's a possibility they were after insects instead. Thanks, BILL ========= OPERATION RUBYTHROAT: The Hummingbird Project BILL HILTON JR., Principal Investigator Executive Director Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, 1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA office & cell (803) 684-5852 fax (803) 684-0255 Operation RubyThroat:The Hummingbird Project ( http://www.rubythroat.org ) is a cross-disciplinary international initiative in which students, teachers, and others collaborate to study behavior and distribution of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). All worldwide rights reserved and copyrighted by Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History ( http://www.hiltonpond.org ). Contributions in support of the project may be made via Network for Good at http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=56-2162170 ============= Subject: Hilton Pond 08/11/10 (New River Hummingbirds) From: "Bill Hilton Jr." <hilton AT RUBYTHROAT.ORG> Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:18:43 -0400 We wandered off to the Mountain State this past week for the first-ever New River Hummingbird Festival in Fayette County WV. For an account of what this was all about, please see our "This Week at Hilton Pond" photo essay for 11-21 August 2010 at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek100811.html While there don't forget to scroll down for a list of birds banded and recaptured back at Hilton Pond, as well as miscellaneous nature notes and an acknowledgement of recent donors. Happy (Still Hot!) Nature Watching! BILL ========= OPERATION RUBYTHROAT: The Hummingbird Project BILL HILTON JR., Principal Investigator Executive Director Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, 1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA office & cell (803) 684-5852 fax (803) 684-0255 Operation RubyThroat:The Hummingbird Project ( http://www.rubythroat.org ) is a cross-disciplinary international initiative in which students, teachers, and others collaborate to study behavior and distribution of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). All worldwide rights reserved and copyrighted by Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History ( http://www.hiltonpond.org ). Contributions in support of the project may be made via Network for Good at http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=56-2162170 ============= Subject: Rufous in Maine From: Anthony Hill <anhinga13 AT HOTMAIL.COM> Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:48:39 -0400 Hey humcrazies ! I was all set to go to Rockport, Maine (not Texas, Bob Sargent), today to band an adult male RUHU that started coming to a feeder on 8/16 and terrorizing all the local Rubies. The homeowner called me on Thursday evening to say the bird had not been seen all day. I called early this morning and was told the same thing so elected not to make the 5-hour (one way) drive. We've had a change to NW winds this week so I'm hoping/guessing this bird moved on as would be appropriate. So far the only wayward hummingbird I've banded in Maine was the hatching year male Calliope I captured on Halloween in 2008 in Blue Hill. All this, as that Sargent fella says, is great stuff. Anthony Hill S. Hadley, MA | Préservons l'environnement - Avez-vous réellement besoin d'imprimer ce courriel ? | | Please consider the environment - Do you really need to print this e-mail? | | Piense en verde. Antes de imprimir este email hágase la siguiente pregunta, es necesario?| Subject: Re: #2 Whooo Hooooo From: Maurice Duvic <jsb8 AT WEBTV.NET> Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:03:11 GMT Beth: To what do you attribute your success with "winterers?" Location? Habitat? (I would have addressed you "direct" if I had your email.) Vic Madison,MS jsb8 AT webtv.net Author "Forty Missions And Home" -----Original Message----- From: Beth Maniscalco Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 12:09 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] #2 Whooo Hooooo Labirders, Humnetters: I am proud to announce the arrival (gawd, it sounds like a birth announcement!!!!!) on August 19 of an adult female Rufous. She joins #1 who is wearing a band on his left leg. Doing a happy dance! Beth and Sammy Maniscalco Thibodaux, LA (Approx. 60 miles SW of New Orleans) Subject: #2 Whooo Hooooo From: Beth Maniscalco <Beth.Maniscalco AT NICHOLLS.EDU> Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:09:30 -0500 Labirders, Humnetters: I am proud to announce the arrival (gawd, it sounds like a birth announcement!!!!!) on August 19 of an adult female Rufous. She joins #1 who is wearing a band on his left leg. Doing a happy dance! Beth and Sammy Maniscalco Thibodaux, LA (Approx. 60 miles SW of New Orleans) Subject: 'nother Rufous From: Nancy L Newfield <nancy AT CASACOLIBRI.NET> Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:23:54 -0500 No, not mine, gentle Humfolks, This afternoon, Ron Stein called from Reserve to report that he had seen an adult male Rufous Hummingbird. Lucky dog! NLN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nancy L Newfield Casa Colibrí Metairie, Louisiana USA nancy AT casacolibri.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Re: Close focus binoculars [faked-from] From: "whitegables AT juno.com" <whitegables@JUNO.COM> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:21:15 GMT Dear Dick, I had a couple of responses from Humnetters. The concern of one person that responded was that the Pentax Papilio might not let in enough light, because that is an issue for my dad (brightness, contrast, and magnification all are needed). I called binoculars.com and the guy there strongly suggested that I get the Nikon MONARCH 8x36DCF/10x36DCF instead of the Pentax Papilio, because of the superior brightness. I haven't made any decision yet. Someone else suggested Eagle Optics also, but I haven't called them. I was with my dad recently and my sense is that his vision is worsening. I'm wondering if it might be more frustrating for him to have binoculars that he can't use. I'm thinking the best option might be to buy them for myself or for my daughter and take them to let him try them out. If he likes them, I can get a pair for him. Thanks very much for your interest and your response. Best regards, Jill ---------- Original Message ---------- From: Dick Burkepile To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Close focus binoculars [faked-from] Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:38:51 -0700 Jill, I don't know if anyone responded to your msg. I apologize for not replying sooner. I don't know if what you want to do is possible. My best suggestion is to call Eagle Optics and ask them. They are the most knowledgeable people that I know of. Dick Burkepile Oxford, Mississippi --- On Sun, 7/11/10, whitegables AT juno.com wrote: > From: whitegables AT juno.com > Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Close focus binoculars [faked-from] > To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU > Date: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 8:30 AM > I'm hoping you folks with these nice > binoculars can help me with a question.  My dad has > macular degeneration and all sorts of devices to help him > read and use the computer.  He mentioned to me that he > can't see well enough to identify the birds that come to his > bird feeder. He can't see any detail on them - only knows > the size and general color.  I wonder if someone with > MD would be able to use these binoculars?  One of the > problems if having enough light and contrast.  Do you > think that they could work for him?  I'm willing to buy > them and let him try, unless someone tells me no one with MD > can use binoculars because of the visual field > deficit.    Thanks - Jill > > ---------- Original Message ---------- > From: Bill Brown > To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU > Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Close focus binoculars > [faked-from] > Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:52:31 -0500 > > > > ________________________________ > > I also have the Pentax Papilio binoculars.  I have the > 8.5 and they are fantastic!  You can check your > fingernails out with them.  They work best for close > up, because the field of view is pretty narrow for finding > warblers in a tree!  I do use them for watching hummers > at a feeder right by a door however.  Great > detail.  About $129. > > I carry the Pentax Papilio for close up, plus it is a > backup for my regular > birding binocular.  The close focus is 1.6', which is > great for b'flies, > etc.  It is small, so fits easily into a pack or large > pocket.  Cost is > about $120, not too bad.  It makes a good starter > binocular for kids.  I > have the 6.5, which I've been pleased with.  > Apparently, it now comes in an > 8.5 as well, tho I don't have any experience with that one, > so can't give an > opinion. > > http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/pentax/pentax-papilio-6-5x21-binocular > > > Lori Markoff > Austin, TX > > > > I suppose this is pushing the limits of these lists, but I > WILL use the > binoculars for looking at birds, too. > > I'm looking for a good pair of close focus (4 to 6 feet) > binoculars to use > for looking at butterflys. > > Does anyone out there have any suggestions? > > Thanks, > Dick Burkepile > Oxford, Mississippi > > > >       > Subject: FW: [BIRDBAND] Any hummingbird banders in NW Ohio? From: "Ingold, James" <James.Ingold AT LSUS.EDU> Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:44:16 -0500 Please contact Jackie directly please. Jim This message is intended only for the use of the Addressee(s) and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL, and/or EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the information contained herein is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you received this communication in error, please destroy all copies of the message, whether in electronic or hard copy format, as well as attachments and immediately contact the sender by replying to this email. -----Original Message----- From: Bird Bander's Forum [mailto:BIRDBAND AT LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jackie Augustine Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 3:56 PM To: BIRDBAND AT LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: [BIRDBAND] Any hummingbird banders in NW Ohio? Hello everyone, I have my master banding permit, but I would like to add hummingbirds to the permit. I have been running a breeding bird banding station and have caught quite a few hummingbirds this summer. My ultimate goal is to monitor survival of birds in various habitats using mark-recapture techniques. I have no hummingbird training now, so I am in need of one or two hummingbird banders who wouldn't mind me tagging along, so I could learn the techniques. Thanks, -Jackie Dr. Jackie Augustine Assistant Professor The Ohio State University at Lima 4240 Campus Dr., LL330 Lima, OH 45804 Augustine.63 AT osu.edu 419-995-8237 archives and subscription options can be found at: http://listserv.arizona.edu/archives/birdband.html Subject: Re: Color-marked RTHU?? From: Bob Sargent <RubyThroat AT AOL.COM> Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:02:04 EDT Suzanne Awesome stuff. Rufous are fierce little beast. I'm jealous as are many others on this wonderful listserv. Bob Sargent Clay, Alabama In a message dated 8/16/2010 3:09:15 P.M. Central Daylight Time, daystar115 AT YAHOO.COM writes: Bob, I have at least 3 Rufous. They started appearing at my feeders last week. -- all the best, Suzanne Subject: Re: Color-marked RTHU?? From: Suzanne <daystar115 AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:08:54 -0700 Bob, I have at least 3 Rufous. They started appearing at my feeders last week. -- all the best, Suzanne ________________________________ From: Bob Sargent To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Sent: Mon, August 16, 2010 12:09:13 PM Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Color-marked RTHU?? Rob and Humnetters For banders east of the Mississippi I am usually in on any new banders color-marking request. I do no know of any such activity. Note, there are often rogue banders, not necessarily hummer banders, that color mark or otherwise mark hummingbirds that they encounter in their nets. This is frowned upon by the Bird Banding Lab, but it happens anyway. I had such an instance with a bander marking hummers in South Carolina many years ago. A brilliant red crown does not sound like paint, but perhaps a male Anna's when the gorget was not visibly red to the observer. Any photos should be conclusive regarding paint or gorget on the crown. Take care all. Bob Sargent Clay, Alabama In a message dated 8/16/2010 10:18:45 A.M. Central Daylight Time, robertprotz AT YAHOO.COM writes: 8/16/10 Dear HumBanders, Yesterday afternoon there was a caller from McKeesport PA (south of Pittsburgh at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers) who reported a hummer in his yard with an absolutely brilliant red crown, but no other distinguishing features, including no gorget. My question is: Are there any banders north of Pittsburgh who are color-marking banded RTHUs with a bright red mark on the crown? Thanks, Rob Protz Subject: Re: Close focus binoculars [faked-from] From: Dick Burkepile <dick_burkepile AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:38:51 -0700 Jill, I don't know if anyone responded to your msg. I apologize for not replying sooner. I don't know if what you want to do is possible. My best suggestion is to call Eagle Optics and ask them. They are the most knowledgeable people that I know of. Dick Burkepile Oxford, Mississippi --- On Sun, 7/11/10, whitegables AT juno.com wrote: > From: whitegables AT juno.com > Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Close focus binoculars [faked-from] > To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU > Date: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 8:30 AM > I'm hoping you folks with these nice > binoculars can help me with a question.  My dad has > macular degeneration and all sorts of devices to help him > read and use the computer.  He mentioned to me that he > can't see well enough to identify the birds that come to his > bird feeder. He can't see any detail on them - only knows > the size and general color.  I wonder if someone with > MD would be able to use these binoculars?  One of the > problems if having enough light and contrast.  Do you > think that they could work for him?  I'm willing to buy > them and let him try, unless someone tells me no one with MD > can use binoculars because of the visual field > deficit.    Thanks - Jill > > ---------- Original Message ---------- > From: Bill Brown > To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU > Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Close focus binoculars > [faked-from] > Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:52:31 -0500 > > > > ________________________________ > > I also have the Pentax Papilio binoculars.  I have the > 8.5 and they are fantastic!  You can check your > fingernails out with them.  They work best for close > up, because the field of view is pretty narrow for finding > warblers in a tree!  I do use them for watching hummers > at a feeder right by a door however.  Great > detail.  About $129. > > I carry the Pentax Papilio for close up, plus it is a > backup for my regular > birding binocular.  The close focus is 1.6', which is > great for b'flies, > etc.  It is small, so fits easily into a pack or large > pocket.  Cost is > about $120, not too bad.  It makes a good starter > binocular for kids.  I > have the 6.5, which I've been pleased with.  > Apparently, it now comes in an > 8.5 as well, tho I don't have any experience with that one, > so can't give an > opinion. > > http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/pentax/pentax-papilio-6-5x21-binocular > > > Lori Markoff > Austin, TX > > > > I suppose this is pushing the limits of these lists, but I > WILL use the > binoculars for looking at birds, too. > > I'm looking for a good pair of close focus (4 to 6 feet) > binoculars to use > for looking at butterflys. > > Does anyone out there have any suggestions? > > Thanks, > Dick Burkepile > Oxford, Mississippi > > > >       > Subject: To Cluster or Not? From: Haji Warf <hajiwarf AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:40:04 -0700 By the end of the weekend, I had 9 feeders spread around all sides of the house. Each was quickly claimed and defended by a hummer, to the extent that no others were getting a chance to feed (other than on the flowering plants). This morning, I gathered all the feeders up and hung them together from a long, horizontal bar I weaved through a single tree near the front deck. Unfortunately, now the resident male Anna's has laid claim to all of them and is busy chasing everyone else away. How long should I try this cluster strategy before redistributing the feeders again? I was hoping that the assault of so many migrants would wear down the Anna's, but it's not working! He is the feistiest hummer I've ever encountered. By the way, there are tons of Rufous here, and one would think they could overwhelm the Anna's, but even they cannot get in!   Haji Warf Kalikai Farm Upper Lake, CA Lake County, Northern California  39.19°N 122.9°W (Elev. 1391 ft) Subject: Re: Color-marked RTHU?? From: "Bill Hilton Jr." <hilton AT RUBYTHROAT.ORG> Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:03:57 -0400 ROB . . . There is a Canadian group in Quebec that has been color-marking RTHU for several years. They're called "Project Colibris." They're north of Pittsburgh and could be the source of a marked bird in your area. They use six colors, including red, but this year I think they've been marking on back and breast. I'm not sure if they're also marking the crown. The English version of the groups's Web site is http://www.projetcolibris.org/English/ Hope this helps, BILL =========== On Aug 16, 2010, at 11:18 AM, Robert Protz wrote: > 8/16/10 > > Dear HumBanders, > > Yesterday afternoon there was a caller from McKeesport PA (south of Pittsburgh at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers) who reported a hummer in his yard with an absolutely brilliant red crown, but no other distinguishing features, including no gorget. > > My question is: Are there any banders north of Pittsburgh who are color-marking banded RTHUs with a bright red mark on the crown? > > Thanks, > > Rob Protz > Brackenridge PA > http://pahummers.tripod.com > > > ========= OPERATION RUBYTHROAT: The Hummingbird Project BILL HILTON JR., Principal Investigator Executive Director Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, 1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA office & cell (803) 684-5852 fax (803) 684-0255 Operation RubyThroat:The Hummingbird Project ( http://www.rubythroat.org ) is a cross-disciplinary international initiative in which students, teachers, and others collaborate to study behavior and distribution of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). All worldwide rights reserved and copyrighted by Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History ( http://www.hiltonpond.org ). Contributions in support of the project may be made via Network for Good at http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=56-2162170 ============= Subject: Re: Color-marked RTHU?? From: Bob Sargent <RubyThroat AT AOL.COM> Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:09:13 EDT Rob and Humnetters For banders east of the Mississippi I am usually in on any new banders color-marking request. I do no know of any such activity. Note, there are often rogue banders, not necessarily hummer banders, that color mark or otherwise mark hummingbirds that they encounter in their nets. This is frowned upon by the Bird Banding Lab, but it happens anyway. I had such an instance with a bander marking hummers in South Carolina many years ago. A brilliant red crown does not sound like paint, but perhaps a male Anna's when the gorget was not visibly red to the observer. Any photos should be conclusive regarding paint or gorget on the crown. Take care all. Bob Sargent Clay, Alabama In a message dated 8/16/2010 10:18:45 A.M. Central Daylight Time, robertprotz AT YAHOO.COM writes: 8/16/10 Dear HumBanders, Yesterday afternoon there was a caller from McKeesport PA (south of Pittsburgh at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers) who reported a hummer in his yard with an absolutely brilliant red crown, but no other distinguishing features, including no gorget. My question is: Are there any banders north of Pittsburgh who are color-marking banded RTHUs with a bright red mark on the crown? Thanks, Rob Protz Subject: Color-marked RTHU?? From: Robert Protz <robertprotz AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:18:24 -0700 8/16/10   Dear HumBanders,   Yesterday afternoon there was a caller from McKeesport PA (south of Pittsburgh at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers) who reported a hummer in his yard with an absolutely brilliant red crown, but no other distinguishing features, including no gorget.   My question is: Are there any banders north of Pittsburgh who are color-marking banded RTHUs with a bright red mark on the crown?   Thanks,   Rob Protz Brackenridge PA http://pahummers.tripod.com Subject: Re: Swarming Ruby-throated From: Dottie <yumyumkatts AT VOYAGER.NET> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:17:29 -0400 I tried to take a pix of swarming hummers last year around a cluster of feeders with my digital but hardly a one of the little buggers showed up in the pix???? The same thing happed with a huge bunch of milkweed with butterflies all on it. I threw a small stone in the middle of the milkweed to make the butterflies fly up and all I got was a big puff of pollen that was brought up by the butterflies.??? Dottie, Hickory Hollow Brown County, Indiana (50 miles south of Indianapolis) Lat: 39.371N Lon: 86.261W Zone 5 Elevation: 680 ft -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Lanny Chambers Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 8:44 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] Swarming Ruby-throated Humnetters, My brother, who lives on top of a mountain near Frederick, MD, pointed his HD camcorder at the HummZinger cluster outside his front door: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-MON0YwFnE Set it to 720p and expand to full screen for the best effect. Lanny Chambers St. Louis, MO lanny AT hummingbirds.net Subject: Re: Swarming Ruby-throated From: Dottie <yumyumkatts AT VOYAGER.NET> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:12:23 -0400 Swarming here, too. And it's great to see them! I estimated about 60 of them yesterday. They are drinking heavy. Dottie, Hickory Hollow Brown County, Indiana (50 miles south of Indianapolis) Lat: 39.371N Lon: 86.261W Zone 5 Elevation: 680 ft -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Bob Sargent Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2010 5:59 AM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Swarming Ruby-throated Lanny and 'netters Nice set up and tons of hummers. Here in our area we appear to be having yet another near-record number of migrant Ruby-throated. Our next to the last trainee of the summer heads home to PA today. Life is good guys. Bob Sargent Clay, Alabama In a message dated 8/14/2010 7:44:19 P.M. Central Daylight Time, lannychambers AT GMAIL.COM writes: Humnetters, My brother, who lives on top of a mountain near Frederick, MD, pointed his HD camcorder at the HummZinger cluster outside his front door: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-MON0YwFnE Set it to 720p and expand to full screen for the best effect. Lanny Chambers St. Louis, MO lanny AT hummingbirds.net Subject: Re: Swarming Ruby-throated From: Bob Sargent <RubyThroat AT AOL.COM> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:58:46 EDT Lanny and 'netters Nice set up and tons of hummers. Here in our area we appear to be having yet another near-record number of migrant Ruby-throated. Our next to the last trainee of the summer heads home to PA today. Life is good guys. Bob Sargent Clay, Alabama In a message dated 8/14/2010 7:44:19 P.M. Central Daylight Time, lannychambers AT GMAIL.COM writes: Humnetters, My brother, who lives on top of a mountain near Frederick, MD, pointed his HD camcorder at the HummZinger cluster outside his front door: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-MON0YwFnE Set it to 720p and expand to full screen for the best effect. Lanny Chambers St. Louis, MO lanny AT hummingbirds.net Subject: Swarming Ruby-throated From: Lanny Chambers <lannychambers AT GMAIL.COM> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:44:00 -0500 Humnetters, My brother, who lives on top of a mountain near Frederick, MD, pointed his HD camcorder at the HummZinger cluster outside his front door: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-MON0YwFnE Set it to 720p and expand to full screen for the best effect. Lanny Chambers St. Louis, MO lanny AT hummingbirds.net Subject: `Lots of birds, eastern PA From: DAVID KOCH <davilene AT VERIZON.NET> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:31:10 -0700 Lots of ruby-throated hummingbirds here today and for the last 3 weeks - more than I've seen in a number of years after a slow spring start, although I realize observer bias can sometimes creep into that observation. I don't get hundreds or even 50 at a time but I'll settle for 10 -20 in sight at the same time, knowing that many of them are changing daily and sometimes even hourly. The number of adult males is slowly changing to more juveniles, a lot of which are also males. Although after all these years I know when to expect the major movements, I'm always reminded that it's happening when I'm in our cornfields and rubythroats are buzzing around the corn tassels. That's about it.    Arlene Koch Easton, PA Northampton County davilene AT verizon.net Subject: Re: Whoo-Hooo!! From: cindy copeland <cindyc AT MYVISCOM.COM> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:55:36 -0500 Well Beth very happy for you, we are down here in Lockport and just this morning we have more female rubies feeding and fighting, so I figured there was some movement going on... I'll be watching for a Rufous now too. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Beth Maniscalco" To: Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 1:12 PM Subject: [HUMNET-L] Whoo-Hooo!! > Labirders, Humnetters: > > First I heard it, and I thought, mmmmm. Then I heard it again, and I said > to myself, I know that sound. And then I saw it, adult male Rufous in all > his splendor. Let the fun begin! > > Beth and Sammy Maniscalco > Thibodaux, LA > (Approx. 60 miles SW of New Orleans) > Subject: Whoo-Hooo!! From: Beth Maniscalco <Beth.Maniscalco AT NICHOLLS.EDU> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:12:36 -0500 Labirders, Humnetters: First I heard it, and I thought, mmmmm. Then I heard it again, and I said to myself, I know that sound. And then I saw it, adult male Rufous in all his splendor. Let the fun begin! Beth and Sammy Maniscalco Thibodaux, LA (Approx. 60 miles SW of New Orleans) Subject: Re: Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' From: Cindy Macolini <cindymacolini1 AT COX.NET> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:34:17 -0500 Nancy, I picked up a 4" transplant at Naylor's this year. It's in the ground and has probably tripled in size. Not sure how much hummer activity it's getting because it's in a location I don't see often. I may have to get more next year and plant in the bed with all the cupheas ... right outside the kitchen windows and in full view. Hummer activity is picking up around here. It's that time of year. Subject: Re: Abutilons From: Cindy Macolini <cindymacolini1 AT COX.NET> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:26:59 -0500 Susan, similar experience here. One of my three had major wilt dieback this year. I lost 2/3 of the plant. In years past I've lost entire plants just out of the blue. Like Nancy said, "they often croak for no particular reason." Cindy Macolini Baton Rouge, LA Subject: Re: Rufous over the Ocean From: Ross Hawkins <humlist AT HUMMINGBIRDSOCIETY.ORG> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:20:14 -0700 More photos are coming. Geb Moran, the boater/photographer, says he is sending me a CD with all his hi-res images. That should permit an estimate of the number of birds. Poor little guys! With their GPS memory of exact food source locations, I can just imagine a group of rufous (charm? not sure that would be what I would call a group of rufii!) on 7/27/2011, circling around an empty space where there is no boat or feeder, and one says to the other, "Right, he says, 'We'll just go out over the ocean about 52 miles, and there will be this wonderful rest stop with plenty of food, and we can avoid all the competition at the feeders on the mainland,' he says, and like a dummy I and the rest of us believed you. I'll never again trust a hummer who has only made one southbound migration. Grumpf." Ross ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nancy L Newfield" To: "Ross Hawkins" ; Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 3:13 PM Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Rufous over the Ocean > > Ross, et al., > > At 01:15 PM 8/13/2010, Ross Hawkins wrote: > >>This week I received several photos of rufous >>hummers landing on a guy's boat, 52 miles into >>the Pacific Ocean, due west of Cape Flattery, >>the most northwest tip of the state of >>Washington. Due north of the sighting lies >>Vancouver Island, Canada, about 50-60 miles away. >> >>I guess I'm not surprised that the rufous were >>spotted over water, but I wonder at what point >>on their continued southbound trek they intercepted the US mainland? >> >>They had to fly at least 50 miles to get to the >>sighting point, and it is another 52 miles to >>land, at the least--and that's if they turned >>and went due east, which is counter intuitive. >>I'm guessing they took at least a southeasterly >>path, and that means a distance of 75 miles to >>shore, not 50, for a total flight of 125 miles. >> >>Does anyone else find this as interesting as I >>do, or is this kind of rufous sighting something >>that has been documented before? >> >>You can see the photos at www.hummingbirdsociety.org/rufous > > Somewhere in the annals of The Wilson Bulletin [I > think], going back 20 or so years, is an account > of a Rufous Hummingbird that landed aboard a boat > about 50 miles off southern California. It could > be possible to do a search on SORA. > > Additionally, there is a paper in a Russian > journal documenting a Rufous Hummingbird on Big > Diomede Island, Russia [USSR at the time]. I > have a copy of that paper somewhere in the office. > > The current account is all the more interesting > because there are multiple birds. Do you know > how many? They appear to be young of the > year. Maybe they don't know how to follow directions. > > NLN > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Nancy L Newfield > Casa Colibrí > Metairie, Louisiana USA > nancy AT casacolibri.net > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Subject: Re: Rufous over the Ocean From: Nancy L Newfield <nancy AT CASACOLIBRI.NET> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:13:00 -0500 Ross, et al., At 01:15 PM 8/13/2010, Ross Hawkins wrote: >This week I received several photos of rufous >hummers landing on a guy's boat, 52 miles into >the Pacific Ocean, due west of Cape Flattery, >the most northwest tip of the state of >Washington. Due north of the sighting lies >Vancouver Island, Canada, about 50-60 miles away. > >I guess I'm not surprised that the rufous were >spotted over water, but I wonder at what point >on their continued southbound trek they intercepted the US mainland? > >They had to fly at least 50 miles to get to the >sighting point, and it is another 52 miles to >land, at the least--and that's if they turned >and went due east, which is counter intuitive. >I'm guessing they took at least a southeasterly >path, and that means a distance of 75 miles to >shore, not 50, for a total flight of 125 miles. > >Does anyone else find this as interesting as I >do, or is this kind of rufous sighting something >that has been documented before? > >You can see the photos at www.hummingbirdsociety.org/rufous Somewhere in the annals of The Wilson Bulletin [I think], going back 20 or so years, is an account of a Rufous Hummingbird that landed aboard a boat about 50 miles off southern California. It could be possible to do a search on SORA. Additionally, there is a paper in a Russian journal documenting a Rufous Hummingbird on Big Diomede Island, Russia [USSR at the time]. I have a copy of that paper somewhere in the office. The current account is all the more interesting because there are multiple birds. Do you know how many? They appear to be young of the year. Maybe they don't know how to follow directions. NLN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nancy L Newfield Casa Colibrí Metairie, Louisiana USA nancy AT casacolibri.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Rufous over the Ocean From: Ross Hawkins <humlist AT HUMMINGBIRDSOCIETY.ORG> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:15:05 -0700 Hi, Humnetters, This week I received several photos of rufous hummers landing on a guy's boat, 52 miles into the Pacific Ocean, due west of Cape Flattery, the most northwest tip of the state of Washington. Due north of the sighting lies Vancouver Island, Canada, about 50-60 miles away. I guess I'm not surprised that the rufous were spotted over water, but I wonder at what point on their continued southbound trek they intercepted the US mainland? They had to fly at least 50 miles to get to the sighting point, and it is another 52 miles to land, at the least--and that's if they turned and went due east, which is counter intuitive. I'm guessing they took at least a southeasterly path, and that means a distance of 75 miles to shore, not 50, for a total flight of 125 miles. Does anyone else find this as interesting as I do, or is this kind of rufous sighting something that has been documented before? You can see the photos at www.hummingbirdsociety.org/rufous Ross Hawkins The Hummingbird Society Sedona, AZ Subject: Re: Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' From: Kathi Johnson Rock <kathijr AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:54:46 -0700 Nancy,   We also have this beautiful salvia from Cottage Garden this season.  Unfortunately, a bunny ate our plant to the ground (wild rabbits were a real problem for us earlier in the season and even chicken wire and Liquid Fence couldn't keep them away!), but I dug up the plant and it's now growing in a container.  It quickly rebounded, is blooming beautifully,  and we have seen some hummer usage.  I hope that we can overwinter it and maybe try it on a larger scale next season.    We are having our hottest day of the season here in Madison and 'Purple Majesty' and a few other salvias are already drooping from the heat in the mid-morning.   Kathi and Michael Rock Zone 4/5 Madison, Wisconsin Kathi and Michael Rock Madison, Wisconsin Zone 4/5 e-mail: kathijr AT yahoo.com website: http://mywebspace.wisc.edu/mjrock/web "Hummingbirds.....where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with reverence..."; (J. J. Audubon) --- On Thu, 8/12/10, Nancy L Newfield wrote: From: Nancy L Newfield Subject: [HUMNET-L] Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Date: Thursday, August 12, 2010, 7:06 AM Mornin' Humnet, Wonderful weather out there this morning!  Torrential rains have kept the heat down a bit though it is still very muggy. Who on this list has grown Salvia 'Wendy's Wish'?  A splendid specimen came from The Cottage Garden in May.  It was ready to flower at that time though I didn't have any hummers. Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' quickly went from a gallon-sized pot to a 3-gallon pot and could easily be happy in the ground, if I'd made the time to prepare a bed for it.  It has flowered non-stop since its arrival, even through the 'dog days' of summer when many Salvias shut down.  I am quite impressed. Hummer traffic has remained light since the first post-breeding wanderer on 4 July.  I have not seen more than 2 at once and usually just one.  Business should be picking up at this time.  Nevertheless, every hummer I've seen in back has made good use of Salvia 'Wendy's Wish'.  I highly recommend it.  Does anyone know the parentage of this fine hybrid? NLN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nancy L Newfield Casa Colibrí Metairie, Louisiana USA nancy AT casacolibri.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Re: Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' From: Susan Orwig <s.orwig AT SBCGLOBAL.NET> Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:36:47 -0700 Nancy and other plant nuts, http://www.fbts.com/salvia-wendys-wish.html The above site shows parentage and the reason behind the common name. I bought three of these at the SFA plant sale in Nacogdoches this spring. I love them. Hummers do too. Susan Orwig Houston, Tx Subject: Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' From: Nancy L Newfield <nancy AT CASACOLIBRI.NET> Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:06:55 -0500 Mornin' Humnet, Wonderful weather out there this morning! Torrential rains have kept the heat down a bit though it is still very muggy. Who on this list has grown Salvia 'Wendy's Wish'? A splendid specimen came from The Cottage Garden in May. It was ready to flower at that time though I didn't have any hummers. Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' quickly went from a gallon-sized pot to a 3-gallon pot and could easily be happy in the ground, if I'd made the time to prepare a bed for it. It has flowered non-stop since its arrival, even through the 'dog days' of summer when many Salvias shut down. I am quite impressed. Hummer traffic has remained light since the first post-breeding wanderer on 4 July. I have not seen more than 2 at once and usually just one. Business should be picking up at this time. Nevertheless, every hummer I've seen in back has made good use of Salvia 'Wendy's Wish'. I highly recommend it. Does anyone know the parentage of this fine hybrid? NLN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nancy L Newfield Casa Colibrí Metairie, Louisiana USA nancy AT casacolibri.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Re: Group of hummingbirds From: Bob Sargent <RubyThroat AT AOL.COM> Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:44:08 EDT Carl Scrum fits these hateful little beasts like a boxing glove! I like it. Please send me a private note regarding your new Registered Charity status in Canada. Good luck all. Bob In a message dated 8/10/2010 9:38:46 P.M. Central Daylight Time, LMohawk AT AOL.COM writes: Hello everyone, My wife Rachel told me this morning that there was a discussion on HUMNET as to what to call a group of hummingbirds. I liked the term "glittering" but somehow it did not seem to reflect the behaviour of our little friends. When I thought of how well they get along the term "Scrum" (term used in Rugby) came to mind as more reflective of their tolerance for each other. Carl Pascoe & Rachel Powless Native Territories Avain Research Project Ontario, Canada Side note: Our organization is now a Registered Charity in Canada. Subject: S C R U M From: Maurice Duvic <jsb8 AT WEBTV.NET> Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:55:23 GMT Rachel, PLEASE keep that thought in your mind! Too few people know anything about Rugby and it would be too easy for crumbums to convert it to SCUM ! Jovially, Vic Madison,MS jsb8 AT webtv.net Author "Forty Missions And Home" -----Original Message----- From: Rachel Powless Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 9:38 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] Group of hummingbirds Hello everyone, My wife Rachel told me this morning that there was a discussion on HUMNET as to what to call a group of hummingbirds. I liked the term "glittering" but somehow it did not seem to reflect the behaviour of our little friends. When I thought of how well they get along the term "Scrum" (term used in Rugby) came to mind as more reflective of their tolerance for each other. Carl Pascoe & Rachel Powless Native Territories Avain Research Project Ontario, Canada Side note: Our organization is now a Registered Charity in Canada. Subject: Re: Group of hummingbirds From: Maurice Duvic <jsb8 AT WEBTV.NET> Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:37:46 GMT Vic Madison,MS jsb8 AT webtv.net Author "Forty Missions And Home" -----Original Message----- From: Rachel Powless Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 9:38 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] Group of hummingbirds Hello everyone, My wife Rachel told me this morning that there was a discussion on HUMNET as to what to call a group of hummingbirds. I liked the term "glittering" but somehow it did not seem to reflect the behaviour of our little friends. When I thought of how well they get along the term "Scrum" (term used in Rugby) came to mind as more reflective of their tolerance for each other. Carl Pascoe & Rachel Powless Native Territories Avain Research Project Ontario, Canada Side note: Our organization is now a Registered Charity in Canada. Subject: Group of hummingbirds From: Rachel Powless <LMohawk AT AOL.COM> Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:38:19 EDT Hello everyone, My wife Rachel told me this morning that there was a discussion on HUMNET as to what to call a group of hummingbirds. I liked the term "glittering" but somehow it did not seem to reflect the behaviour of our little friends. When I thought of how well they get along the term "Scrum" (term used in Rugby) came to mind as more reflective of their tolerance for each other. Carl Pascoe & Rachel Powless Native Territories Avain Research Project Ontario, Canada Side note: Our organization is now a Registered Charity in Canada. Subject: Re: Triple the Activity From: Bob Sargent <RubyThroat AT AOL.COM> Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:15:07 EDT Dottie and Humnetters A "red-headed" hummer has got to make us think of Anna's. We banded such a bird in Alabama last winter in the city of Madison, near Huntsville, AL. Nice to hear you have more hummers. Our just ended bander training session in West Virginia was overrun with hundreds and hundreds of Ruby-throateds as usual. Ain't life fine!!!!!!! Bob Sargent Clay, Alabama In a message dated 8/10/2010 9:04:22 A.M. Central Daylight Time, yumyumkatts AT VOYAGER.NET writes: Same here. Still lots and lots of hummers coming thru. Poor Harry the R/T hummer was almost drinking himself to death as he gave up trying to guard his feeder as he was overwhelmed by ruby throats so he tried drinking all the nectar. His tummy poking way out. Another friend is sending me a pix of a hummer that her friend saw at her feeder and had never seen before. She said it has a red head. I got the pix yesterday but couldn't open it so I asked for her to resend it. The friend is in Indiana. Dottie, Hickory Hollow Brown County, Indiana Subject: Triple the Activity From: Dottie <yumyumkatts AT VOYAGER.NET> Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:02:29 -0400 Same here. Still lots and lots of hummers coming thru. Poor Harry the R/T hummer was almost drinking himself to death as he gave up trying to guard his feeder as he was overwhelmed by ruby throats so he tried drinking all the nectar. His tummy poking way out. Another friend is sending me a pix of a hummer that her friend saw at her feeder and had never seen before. She said it has a red head. I got the pix yesterday but couldn't open it so I asked for her to resend it. The friend is in Indiana. Dottie, Hickory Hollow Brown County, Indiana (50 miles south of Indianapolis) Lat: 39.371N Lon: 86.261W Zone 5 Elevation: 680 ft -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Haji Warf Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 1:57 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: [HUMNET-L] UPDATE: Triple the Activity Okay, humnetters, I guess the migration is really gearing up. Suddenly, I have 3X the activity of two weeks ago. Poor Sherman (my daughter named the male Anna's that's been guarding the concentration of feeders and flowers around the front deck all summer), who is having a heckuva time keeping the others at bay. I've hung additional feeders around all sides of the house and will continue to do so, as required.   Haji Warf Kalikai Farm Upper Lake, CA Lake County, Northern California  39.19°N 122.9°W (Elev. 1391 ft) Subject: Re: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 From: Penny Durnin <pendee AT GMAIL.COM> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 16:20:17 -0400 On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 12:08 PM, Power, Robert W. wrote: > I found on the internet a "charm" of hummingbirds? > > Has anyone heard of this? Where did this come from? > > -RWP > > -----Original Message----- > From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Bill Benner > Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 11:02 AM > To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU > Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 > > Hi Penny, > Thanks for the nice note.  A "glittering" sounds good--it sounds spectacular, which they are, though they are also very crabby!  Having a good number of Ruby-throats in the yard this year makes it seem like our gardening efforts are starting to pay off, but who knows what next year will bring.  I think it varies a lot from year to year.  That's what makes it fun, too, though--maybe next year you'll be inundated! > Also, I would never have thought we had so many just based on observation.  10 at once was the most we'd seen.  Trapping and banding studies tend to reveal that there are more around than you think. > Best, > Bill > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Penny Durnin > To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU > Sent: Sun, Aug 8, 2010 11:21 pm > Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 > > > On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 10:00 PM, Bill Benner wrote: > > >  Hi All, >  On Saturday August 7 our friend, and Master Bander, Anthony Hill cameto band > uby-throated Hummingbirds at our house in western MA.  This is the third year > e has been gracious enough to come up on the firstweekend or so of August to > and here, and we really enjoy his great company as well as his banding skills. > Amazingly (to us, anyway) he trappedand banded 47 individuals, and trapped 1 > dditional return, for a total of48 individuals, not counting the couple who > scaped from the trap etc.unbanded.  This number far surpassed last year's total > f 10, whichitself had been double what we caught in 2008. > >  In case you're interested in a bit more info: >  We've had a much different summer here than last year's cool, wet season. > This summer has been quite warm, with early flights of most of our butterflies > nd moths, and fairly early blooming for a lot of the plants in the yard, though > thers seem to be keeping their usual timetable.  The first male Ruby-throat > rrived on 5/2, right on schedule, and we seem to have had good numbers of > reeders hang around.  My high count for males and females at any one time at > he feeders was 4 of each.  The yard is continuing to get more and more > ummingbird plants added, and is growing up more each year, though we also try > o keep the edges pruned back somewhat to keep some open space.  There are lots > f Salvias this year, of a variety of different kinds, and the little red > orning glories that Nancy Newfield first sent to me got planted in quite a few > ocations this year.  Thanks to the warm summer, they are already blooming like > razy, and popular with the young ones.  It's been getting drier the past few > eeks, though, despite a couple of thunderstorms, and the past few days things > eally seem to be drying up. > >  We have been seeing numbers of hummingbirds build up at our feeders andin our > ard since the third week of July, when we got our firstjuveniles coming in.  By > riday evening 8/6, we were up to 10hummingbirds visible at once at the largest > roup of feeders.  This probably doesn't seem like much to some of you > ummingbirders, but it's very gratifying for us, after all of our hard gardening > ork.  Increased numbers on 8/6 were perhapshelped by the fact that we had a > old front move through that day, andby evening temps were dropping into the > ower 60's (with a forecast overnightlow of 49 degrees), so the birds seemed to > e even more anxious thanusual to "tank up" before bed. > >  At 5:29am on 8/7 the first hummer appeared at the feeders, and Anthonyarrived > bout 5:50am.  He had lent me his trap a couple days earlier,and it had been > anging outdoors all day Friday with escape hatchesopen, with a feeder in it, so > he birds could get used to it.  He setthe trap, and by 6am had started to trap > irds.  The flow of birdscontinued basically without interruption until 10:30am > r so, whenthings got only slightly slower.  Anthony had made 40 new bands > obring with him, and had also brought a few extra, but by 11:30 he onlyhad one > emaining band!  We kept the trap open so he wouldn't have tolug that last band > ome, but from 11:30-12:30 caught no more birds, soat that point we quit. > > >  Thanks to this happy chance, it's tempting to conclude that we actuallytrapped > nd banded most of the birds in the yard--though of course wecan't really know > hat for sure.  I know that I saw a number of unbanded ones as well as banded > nes in the yard today, Sunday, but who knows if the unbanded ones were here > esterday morning or have arrived since then.  Still, if he had used up his > astband while we were still catching birds yesterday, we probably would have > pent some energy imagining how many more there might be. > >  At any rate, it was a fantasticday!!  We had multiple human visitors also, as > sual--a greatopportunity for education for some folks, and a chance for > omehummingbird lovers to see the birds up-close and personal.  And Anthonyis > tarting to build a data set here that will hopefully shed morelight over time > n our Massachusetts Ruby-throats.  I can say that the one bird that we caught > hat was already banded was one of the last birds caught, and seemed to be one > f Anthony's bands from a prior year here (probably last year).  It was an AHY > after hatching year) female, but I don't know yet what her age was when she was > irst banded.  It was encouraging to get a return, though! > >  Altogether it was a truly amazing day for us, and we're grateful to be playing > osts to a nice swarm of Ruby-throats.  By the way--does anyone know the > fficial name for a "flock" of Ruby-throats?  Joe Wicinski says it should be a > war party" of hummers, and I passed that along to Anthony--it sounds about > ight to me. > >  Good hummingbirding to all, >  Bill Benner >  Whately, Franklin Co., MA >  billb55 AT aol.com > > > > > Bill > hat a wonderful report!  I can only dream of seeing so many > ummingbirds in my yard.  This year I have been down by 2/3 of what I > ad two years ago and even then the numbers couldn't hold a candle to > our counts.  I think one of the collective names for a group of > ummers is a 'glittering'. > -- > enny Durnin > iagara Falls, NY > SDA zone 6a > eat zone 4 > unset climate zone 37 > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: >  The information in this e-mail may be confidential and/or >  privileged.  If you are not the intended recipient or an >  authorized representative of the intended recipient, you >  are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, or >  copying of this e-mail and its attachments, if any, or >  the information contained herein is prohibited.  If you >  have received this e-mail in error, please immediately >  notify the sender by return e-mail and delete this e-mail >  from your computer system.  Thank you. > ============================================================ > Bill You are right about number changing from year to year. I tried for two years to get a bander out when I had larger numbers but never did get anyone interested. Then the counts plummeted. Heres hoping next year will get a little better and hoping your numbers continue to increase. Robert, Now that you have mentioned it, I believe that I have also heard the term 'Charm of Hummingbirds'. That one also has a magical tone to it. -- Penny Durnin Niagara Falls, NY USDA zone 6a Heat zone 4 Sunset climate zone 37 Subject: UPDATE: Triple the Activity From: Haji Warf <hajiwarf AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 10:57:24 -0700 Okay, humnetters, I guess the migration is really gearing up. Suddenly, I have 3X the activity of two weeks ago. Poor Sherman (my daughter named the male Anna's that's been guarding the concentration of feeders and flowers around the front deck all summer), who is having a heckuva time keeping the others at bay. I've hung additional feeders around all sides of the house and will continue to do so, as required.   Haji Warf Kalikai Farm Upper Lake, CA Lake County, Northern California  39.19°N 122.9°W (Elev. 1391 ft) Subject: Re: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 From: "Power, Robert W." <rwpower AT TEXASCHILDRENS.ORG> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 11:08:10 -0500 I found on the internet a "charm" of hummingbirds? Has anyone heard of this? Where did this come from? -RWP -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Bill Benner Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 11:02 AM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 Hi Penny, Thanks for the nice note. A "glittering" sounds good--it sounds spectacular, which they are, though they are also very crabby! Having a good number of Ruby-throats in the yard this year makes it seem like our gardening efforts are starting to pay off, but who knows what next year will bring. I think it varies a lot from year to year. That's what makes it fun, too, though--maybe next year you'll be inundated! Also, I would never have thought we had so many just based on observation. 10 at once was the most we'd seen. Trapping and banding studies tend to reveal that there are more around than you think. Best, Bill -----Original Message----- From: Penny Durnin To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Sent: Sun, Aug 8, 2010 11:21 pm Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 10:00 PM, Bill Benner wrote: Hi All, On Saturday August 7 our friend, and Master Bander, Anthony Hill cameto band uby-throated Hummingbirds at our house in western MA. This is the third year e has been gracious enough to come up on the firstweekend or so of August to and here, and we really enjoy his great company as well as his banding skills. Amazingly (to us, anyway) he trappedand banded 47 individuals, and trapped 1 dditional return, for a total of48 individuals, not counting the couple who scaped from the trap etc.unbanded. This number far surpassed last year's total f 10, whichitself had been double what we caught in 2008. In case you're interested in a bit more info: We've had a much different summer here than last year's cool, wet season. This summer has been quite warm, with early flights of most of our butterflies nd moths, and fairly early blooming for a lot of the plants in the yard, though thers seem to be keeping their usual timetable. The first male Ruby-throat rrived on 5/2, right on schedule, and we seem to have had good numbers of reeders hang around. My high count for males and females at any one time at he feeders was 4 of each. The yard is continuing to get more and more ummingbird plants added, and is growing up more each year, though we also try o keep the edges pruned back somewhat to keep some open space. There are lots f Salvias this year, of a variety of different kinds, and the little red orning glories that Nancy Newfield first sent to me got planted in quite a few ocations this year. Thanks to the warm summer, they are already blooming like razy, and popular with the young ones. It's been getting drier the past few eeks, though, despite a couple of thunderstorms, and the past few days things eally seem to be drying up. We have been seeing numbers of hummingbirds build up at our feeders andin our ard since the third week of July, when we got our firstjuveniles coming in. By riday evening 8/6, we were up to 10hummingbirds visible at once at the largest roup of feeders. This probably doesn't seem like much to some of you ummingbirders, but it's very gratifying for us, after all of our hard gardening ork. Increased numbers on 8/6 were perhapshelped by the fact that we had a old front move through that day, andby evening temps were dropping into the ower 60's (with a forecast overnightlow of 49 degrees), so the birds seemed to e even more anxious thanusual to "tank up" before bed. At 5:29am on 8/7 the first hummer appeared at the feeders, and Anthonyarrived bout 5:50am. He had lent me his trap a couple days earlier,and it had been anging outdoors all day Friday with escape hatchesopen, with a feeder in it, so he birds could get used to it. He setthe trap, and by 6am had started to trap irds. The flow of birdscontinued basically without interruption until 10:30am r so, whenthings got only slightly slower. Anthony had made 40 new bands obring with him, and had also brought a few extra, but by 11:30 he onlyhad one emaining band! We kept the trap open so he wouldn't have tolug that last band ome, but from 11:30-12:30 caught no more birds, soat that point we quit. Thanks to this happy chance, it's tempting to conclude that we actuallytrapped nd banded most of the birds in the yard--though of course wecan't really know hat for sure. I know that I saw a number of unbanded ones as well as banded nes in the yard today, Sunday, but who knows if the unbanded ones were here esterday morning or have arrived since then. Still, if he had used up his astband while we were still catching birds yesterday, we probably would have pent some energy imagining how many more there might be. At any rate, it was a fantasticday!! We had multiple human visitors also, as sual--a greatopportunity for education for some folks, and a chance for omehummingbird lovers to see the birds up-close and personal. And Anthonyis tarting to build a data set here that will hopefully shed morelight over time n our Massachusetts Ruby-throats. I can say that the one bird that we caught hat was already banded was one of the last birds caught, and seemed to be one f Anthony's bands from a prior year here (probably last year). It was an AHY after hatching year) female, but I don't know yet what her age was when she was irst banded. It was encouraging to get a return, though! Altogether it was a truly amazing day for us, and we're grateful to be playing osts to a nice swarm of Ruby-throats. By the way--does anyone know the fficial name for a "flock" of Ruby-throats? Joe Wicinski says it should be a war party" of hummers, and I passed that along to Anthony--it sounds about ight to me. Good hummingbirding to all, Bill Benner Whately, Franklin Co., MA billb55 AT aol.com Bill hat a wonderful report! I can only dream of seeing so many ummingbirds in my yard. This year I have been down by 2/3 of what I ad two years ago and even then the numbers couldn't hold a candle to our counts. I think one of the collective names for a group of ummers is a 'glittering'. -- enny Durnin iagara Falls, NY SDA zone 6a eat zone 4 unset climate zone 37 ------------------------------------------------------------ CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information in this e-mail may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, or copying of this e-mail and its attachments, if any, or the information contained herein is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender by return e-mail and delete this e-mail from your computer system. Thank you. ============================================================ Subject: Re: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 From: Bill Benner <billb55 AT AOL.COM> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 12:02:01 -0400 Hi Penny, Thanks for the nice note. A "glittering" sounds good--it sounds spectacular, which they are, though they are also very crabby! Having a good number of Ruby-throats in the yard this year makes it seem like our gardening efforts are starting to pay off, but who knows what next year will bring. I think it varies a lot from year to year. That's what makes it fun, too, though--maybe next year you'll be inundated! Also, I would never have thought we had so many just based on observation. 10 at once was the most we'd seen. Trapping and banding studies tend to reveal that there are more around than you think. Best, Bill -----Original Message----- From: Penny Durnin To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Sent: Sun, Aug 8, 2010 11:21 pm Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 10:00 PM, Bill Benner wrote: Hi All, On Saturday August 7 our friend, and Master Bander, Anthony Hill cameto band uby-throated Hummingbirds at our house in western MA. This is the third year e has been gracious enough to come up on the firstweekend or so of August to and here, and we really enjoy his great company as well as his banding skills. Amazingly (to us, anyway) he trappedand banded 47 individuals, and trapped 1 dditional return, for a total of48 individuals, not counting the couple who scaped from the trap etc.unbanded. This number far surpassed last year's total f 10, whichitself had been double what we caught in 2008. In case you're interested in a bit more info: We've had a much different summer here than last year's cool, wet season. This summer has been quite warm, with early flights of most of our butterflies nd moths, and fairly early blooming for a lot of the plants in the yard, though thers seem to be keeping their usual timetable. The first male Ruby-throat rrived on 5/2, right on schedule, and we seem to have had good numbers of reeders hang around. My high count for males and females at any one time at he feeders was 4 of each. The yard is continuing to get more and more ummingbird plants added, and is growing up more each year, though we also try o keep the edges pruned back somewhat to keep some open space. There are lots f Salvias this year, of a variety of different kinds, and the little red orning glories that Nancy Newfield first sent to me got planted in quite a few ocations this year. Thanks to the warm summer, they are already blooming like razy, and popular with the young ones. It's been getting drier the past few eeks, though, despite a couple of thunderstorms, and the past few days things eally seem to be drying up. We have been seeing numbers of hummingbirds build up at our feeders andin our ard since the third week of July, when we got our firstjuveniles coming in. By riday evening 8/6, we were up to 10hummingbirds visible at once at the largest roup of feeders. This probably doesn't seem like much to some of you ummingbirders, but it's very gratifying for us, after all of our hard gardening ork. Increased numbers on 8/6 were perhapshelped by the fact that we had a old front move through that day, andby evening temps were dropping into the ower 60's (with a forecast overnightlow of 49 degrees), so the birds seemed to e even more anxious thanusual to "tank up" before bed. At 5:29am on 8/7 the first hummer appeared at the feeders, and Anthonyarrived bout 5:50am. He had lent me his trap a couple days earlier,and it had been anging outdoors all day Friday with escape hatchesopen, with a feeder in it, so he birds could get used to it. He setthe trap, and by 6am had started to trap irds. The flow of birdscontinued basically without interruption until 10:30am r so, whenthings got only slightly slower. Anthony had made 40 new bands obring with him, and had also brought a few extra, but by 11:30 he onlyhad one emaining band! We kept the trap open so he wouldn't have tolug that last band ome, but from 11:30-12:30 caught no more birds, soat that point we quit. Thanks to this happy chance, it's tempting to conclude that we actuallytrapped nd banded most of the birds in the yard--though of course wecan't really know hat for sure. I know that I saw a number of unbanded ones as well as banded nes in the yard today, Sunday, but who knows if the unbanded ones were here esterday morning or have arrived since then. Still, if he had used up his astband while we were still catching birds yesterday, we probably would have pent some energy imagining how many more there might be. At any rate, it was a fantasticday!! We had multiple human visitors also, as sual--a greatopportunity for education for some folks, and a chance for omehummingbird lovers to see the birds up-close and personal. And Anthonyis tarting to build a data set here that will hopefully shed morelight over time n our Massachusetts Ruby-throats. I can say that the one bird that we caught hat was already banded was one of the last birds caught, and seemed to be one f Anthony's bands from a prior year here (probably last year). It was an AHY after hatching year) female, but I don't know yet what her age was when she was irst banded. It was encouraging to get a return, though! Altogether it was a truly amazing day for us, and we're grateful to be playing osts to a nice swarm of Ruby-throats. By the way--does anyone know the fficial name for a "flock" of Ruby-throats? Joe Wicinski says it should be a war party" of hummers, and I passed that along to Anthony--it sounds about ight to me. Good hummingbirding to all, Bill Benner Whately, Franklin Co., MA billb55 AT aol.com Bill hat a wonderful report! I can only dream of seeing so many ummingbirds in my yard. This year I have been down by 2/3 of what I ad two years ago and even then the numbers couldn't hold a candle to our counts. I think one of the collective names for a group of ummers is a 'glittering'. -- enny Durnin iagara Falls, NY SDA zone 6a eat zone 4 unset climate zone 37 Subject: Re: Abutilons From: Scott Knaus <rsknaus AT GECINC.COM> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 09:23:05 -0500 When I used to have fairly large "patches" of the abutilon you describe, I never had a sudden die off of a particular plant. However, it seemed that the stems over a couple of years old would die off and the patch would keep going from new sprouts or rooted branches on the ground. If I did not let the sprouts come up or branches fall over and root, eventually the plant would wither away on older, less productive stems. In your case this year, I would say the problem is the extreme weather - all or nothing rain/heat. Scott Knaus Baton Rouge -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Nancy L Newfield Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2010 2:10 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Abutilons Susan, At 01:15 PM 8/8/2010, Susan Orwig wrote: >Hi, everybody. I have a healthy influx of rubies in the yard and I'm looking >for the first rufous of the fall any day >now. My question is about Abutilons. >I have the large one with orange flowers and red veins. The hummers and many >other birds are crazy about them. I have them >all over the yard but this year I >have lost three. The first one I attributed to >too much pruning in the summer, >and I thought the others might be due to all of the rain we had in July (14 >inches). Anyone else in Lousiana seeing this problem? The information contained in this e-mail message is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain information which is privileged, confidential or proprietary. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, copying or distribution of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender rsknaus AT gecinc.com by return e-mail and delete this email and any copies from your computer. Thank you. Subject: hummingbirds in WMass From: Anthony Hill <anhinga13 AT HOTMAIL.COM> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 07:47:52 -0400 Thanks for your gracious note, Bill. All this is very interesting. Bill, Lori and I all live withing relatively the same region; Lori's house is probably less than a mile as the hummer flies, but we have very few hummingbirds this year and have not changed any of our plantings and have even added a feeder. To date I have banded only 30 new birds at home and this is about half of what I would expect at this time of year. Only 13% of the banded birds as hatching year class, so I'm at a loss to explain what's going on. At Bill's house, a group of hummingbirds is a 'war party of hummingbirds'. Sounds right to me ! Anthony Hill S. Hadley, M | Préservons l'environnement - Avez-vous réellement besoin d'imprimer ce courriel ? | | Please consider the environment - Do you really need to print this e-mail? | | Piense en verde. Antes de imprimir este email hágase la siguiente pregunta, es necesario?| Subject: Re: hummingbirds in so. Florida From: Backes <backes1 AT VERIZON.NET> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 00:55:12 -0400 Chris, You are probably being too pessimistic. I created a forum for discussing and reporting hummingbirds in Florida at http://floridahummingbirds.proboards.com/ . Participation is limited so far with 160 members but data is coming in slowly. A quick search of the subjects in the "Report Ruby-throated Hummingbird Sightings" board reveals that there have been few reports of birds from Martin County, the county just north of Palm Beach. The most recent was on June 26th. I've heard of others on the southeast coast in the past through discussions on Garden Web. A number of years ago I visited the Everglades in February and found a number of hummingbirds just outside of the park as well as in various areas between Kendall and Cutler Ridge. Some birds do winter in southeast Florida. Not as many as do in other parts of the state but there is a lot of confusion regarding the distribution of hummingbirds throughout Florida. I'm constantly hearing from people in the Tampa area who have been told by various "experts" from local nurseries to the county extension office that we don't have hummingbirds in the winter. We've banded 16 and 18 in my yard the past two winters. I've documented at least 20 each year. I hear the same thing throughout the state. That's why I started floridahummingbirds.net. This lack of knowledge by the "experts" is likely due to a lack of reporting. People don't hang feeders and/or watch for hummers because they're told we don't have hummingbirds. So, no hummers get reported. Ignorance begets ignorance. Another problem is that they can be very local. I don't see them in the summer but a friend who lives a couple of miles away along the Alafia River sees them all summer but not in the winter. Another problem a lot of people have is that they just don't live in the right habitat. Many people who contact me live in new developments that lack any mature trees. They may see a passing migrant but they're not likely to attract any resident birds. I recommend to everyone to hang at least one feeder, landscape for them, and have patience through all four seasons before giving up. Steve Steve Backes Valrico, FL backes1 AT verizon.net http://mysite.verizon.net/resu64md/yardhummers/ http://floridahummingbirds.net/ http://floridahummingbirds.proboards.com/ Hummingbirds in Florida on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=106975792655351 -----Original Message----- From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast [mailto:HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Curtis Croulet Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2010 11:29 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] hummingbirds in so. Florida My brother in so. FL (specifically, Lake Worth, near 441) has asked about putting up a hummingbird feeder. It's always been my understanding that hummingbirds of any species are rare south of central Florida, and I've basically told him not to bother. Am I being too pessimistic? -- Curtis Croulet Temecula, California calypte AT verizon.net Subject: Re: hummingbirds in so. Florida From: Lanny Chambers <lannychambers AT GMAIL.COM> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2010 23:01:25 -0500 On Aug 8, 2010, at 22:28 , Curtis Croulet wrote: > My brother in so. FL (specifically, Lake Worth, near 441) has asked about putting up a hummingbird feeder. It's always been my understanding that hummingbirds of any species are rare south of central Florida, and I've basically told him not to bother. Am I being too pessimistic? No, probably not. Birds have wings, anything is possible, and he might get a hummer (especially in winter), but on the Atlantic coast, not many folks south of Melbourne see hummingbirds. Lanny Chambers St. Louis, MO lanny AT hummingbirds.net Subject: Re: hummingbirds in so. Florida From: Maurice Duvic <jsb8 AT WEBTV.NET> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2010 03:58:33 GMT rubythroat AT floridahummingbirds.net Vic Madison,MS jsb8 AT webtv.net (Remember: We're Being Warred Upon!) -----Original Message----- From: Curtis Croulet Sent: Sunday, August 8, 2010 10:28 PM To: HUMNET-L AT LISTSERV.LSU.EDU Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] hummingbirds in so. Florida My brother in so. FL (specifically, Lake Worth, near 441) has asked about putting up a hummingbird feeder. It's always been my understanding that hummingbirds of any species are rare south of central Florida, and I've basically told him not to bother. Am I being too pessimistic? -- Curtis Croulet Temecula, California calypte AT verizon.net Subject: Re: hummingbirds in so. Florida From: Curtis Croulet <calypte AT VERIZON.NET> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2010 20:28:38 -0700 My brother in so. FL (specifically, Lake Worth, near 441) has asked about putting up a hummingbird feeder. It's always been my understanding that hummingbirds of any species are rare south of central Florida, and I've basically told him not to bother. Am I being too pessimistic? -- Curtis Croulet Temecula, California calypte AT verizon.net Subject: Re: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 From: Penny Durnin <pendee AT GMAIL.COM> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2010 23:21:49 -0400 On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 10:00 PM, Bill Benner wrote: > > >  Hi All, > On Saturday August 7 our friend, and Master Bander, Anthony Hill cameto band Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at our house in western MA.  This is the third year he has been gracious enough to come up on the firstweekend or so of August to band here, and we really enjoy his great company as well as his banding skills.  Amazingly (to us, anyway) he trappedand banded 47 individuals, and trapped 1 additional return, for a total of48 individuals, not counting the couple who escaped from the trap etc.unbanded.  This number far surpassed last year's total of 10, whichitself had been double what we caught in 2008. > > In case you're interested in a bit more info: > We've had a much different summer here than last year's cool, wet season.  This summer has been quite warm, with early flights of most of our butterflies and moths, and fairly early blooming for a lot of the plants in the yard, though others seem to be keeping their usual timetable.  The first male Ruby-throat arrived on 5/2, right on schedule, and we seem to have had good numbers of breeders hang around.  My high count for males and females at any one time at the feeders was 4 of each.  The yard is continuing to get more and more hummingbird plants added, and is growing up more each year, though we also try to keep the edges pruned back somewhat to keep some open space.  There are lots of Salvias this year, of a variety of different kinds, and the little red morning glories that Nancy Newfield first sent to me got planted in quite a few locations this year.  Thanks to the warm summer, they are already blooming like crazy, and popular with the young ones.  It's been gettin! g drier the past few weeks, though, despite a couple of thunderstorms, and the past few days things really seem to be drying up. > > We have been seeing numbers of hummingbirds build up at our feeders andin our yard since the third week of July, when we got our firstjuveniles coming in.  By Friday evening 8/6, we were up to 10hummingbirds visible at once at the largest group of feeders.  This probably doesn't seem like much to some of you hummingbirders, but it's very gratifying for us, after all of our hard gardening work.  Increased numbers on 8/6 were perhapshelped by the fact that we had a cold front move through that day, andby evening temps were dropping into the lower 60's (with a forecast overnightlow of 49 degrees), so the birds seemed to be even more anxious thanusual to "tank up" before bed. > > At 5:29am on 8/7 the first hummer appeared at the feeders, and Anthonyarrived about 5:50am.  He had lent me his trap a couple days earlier,and it had been hanging outdoors all day Friday with escape hatchesopen, with a feeder in it, so the birds could get used to it.  He setthe trap, and by 6am had started to trap birds.  The flow of birdscontinued basically without interruption until 10:30am or so, whenthings got only slightly slower.  Anthony had made 40 new bands tobring with him, and had also brought a few extra, but by 11:30 he onlyhad one remaining band!  We kept the trap open so he wouldn't have tolug that last band home, but from 11:30-12:30 caught no more birds, soat that point we quit. > > > Thanks to this happy chance, it's tempting to conclude that we actuallytrapped and banded most of the birds in the yard--though of course wecan't really know that for sure.  I know that I saw a number of unbanded ones as well as banded ones in the yard today, Sunday, but who knows if the unbanded ones were here yesterday morning or have arrived since then.  Still, if he had used up his lastband while we were still catching birds yesterday, we probably would have spent some energy imagining how many more there might be. > > At any rate, it was a fantasticday!!  We had multiple human visitors also, as usual--a greatopportunity for education for some folks, and a chance for somehummingbird lovers to see the birds up-close and personal.  And Anthonyis starting to build a data set here that will hopefully shed morelight over time on our Massachusetts Ruby-throats.  I can say that the one bird that we caught that was already banded was one of the last birds caught, and seemed to be one of Anthony's bands from a prior year here (probably last year).  It was an AHY (after hatching year) female, but I don't know yet what her age was when she was first banded.  It was encouraging to get a return, though! > > Altogether it was a truly amazing day for us, and we're grateful to be playing hosts to a nice swarm of Ruby-throats.  By the way--does anyone know the official name for a "flock" of Ruby-throats?  Joe Wicinski says it should be a "war party" of hummers, and I passed that along to Anthony--it sounds about right to me. > > Good hummingbirding to all, > Bill Benner > Whately, Franklin Co., MA > billb55 AT aol.com > > > > Bill What a wonderful report! I can only dream of seeing so many hummingbirds in my yard. This year I have been down by 2/3 of what I had two years ago and even then the numbers couldn't hold a candle to your counts. I think one of the collective names for a group of hummers is a 'glittering'. -- Penny Durnin Niagara Falls, NY USDA zone 6a Heat zone 4 Sunset climate zone 37 Subject: Hummingbird Banding, Whately, MA, 8/7/10 From: Bill Benner <billb55 AT AOL.COM> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2010 22:00:26 -0400 Hi All, On Saturday August 7 our friend, and Master Bander, Anthony Hill cameto band Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at our house in western MA. This is the third year he has been gracious enough to come up on the firstweekend or so of August to band here, and we really enjoy his great company as well as his banding skills. Amazingly (to us, anyway) he trappedand banded 47 individuals, and trapped 1 additional return, for a total of48 individuals, not counting the couple who escaped from the trap etc.unbanded. This number far surpassed last year's total of 10, whichitself had been double what we caught in 2008. In case you're interested in a bit more info: We've had a much different summer here than last year's cool, wet season. This summer has been quite warm, with early flights of most of our butterflies and moths, and fairly early blooming for a lot of the plants in the yard, though others seem to be keeping their usual timetable. The first male Ruby-throat arrived on 5/2, right on schedule, and we seem to have had good numbers of breeders hang around. My high count for males and females at any one time at the feeders was 4 of each. The yard is continuing to get more and more hummingbird plants added, and is growing up more each year, though we also try to keep the edges pruned back somewhat to keep some open space. There are lots of Salvias this year, of a variety of different kinds, and the little red morning glories that Nancy Newfield first sent to me got planted in quite a few locations this year. Thanks to the warm summer, they are already blooming like crazy, and popular with the young ones. It's been getting drier the past few weeks, though, despite a couple of thunderstorms, and the past few days things really seem to be drying up. We have been seeing numbers of hummingbirds build up at our feeders andin our yard since the third week of July, when we got our firstjuveniles coming in. By Friday evening 8/6, we were up to 10hummingbirds visible at once at the largest group of feeders. This probably doesn't seem like much to some of you hummingbirders, but it's very gratifying for us, after all of our hard gardening work. Increased numbers on 8/6 were perhapshelped by the fact that we had a cold front move through that day, andby evening temps were dropping into the lower 60's (with a forecast overnightlow of 49 degrees), so the birds seemed to be even more anxious thanusual to "tank up" before bed. At 5:29am on 8/7 the first hummer appeared at the feeders, and Anthonyarrived about 5:50am. He had lent me his trap a couple days earlier,and it had been hanging outdoors all day Friday with escape hatchesopen, with a feeder in it, so the birds could get used to it. He setthe trap, and by 6am had started to trap birds. The flow of birdscontinued basically without interruption until 10:30am or so, whenthings got only slightly slower. Anthony had made 40 new bands tobring with him, and had also brought a few extra, but by 11:30 he onlyhad one remaining band! We kept the trap open so he wouldn't have tolug that last band home, but from 11:30-12:30 caught no more birds, soat that point we quit. Thanks to this happy chance, it's tempting to conclude that we actuallytrapped and banded most of the birds in the yard--though of course wecan't really know that for sure. I know that I saw a number of unbanded ones as well as banded ones in the yard today, Sunday, but who knows if the unbanded ones were here yesterday morning or have arrived since then. Still, if he had used up his lastband while we were still catching birds yesterday, we probably would have spent some energy imagining how many more there might be. At any rate, it was a fantasticday!! We had multiple human visitors also, as usual--a greatopportunity for education for some folks, and a chance for somehummingbird lovers to see the birds up-close and personal. And Anthonyis starting to build a data set here that will hopefully shed morelight over time on our Massachusetts Ruby-throats. I can say that the one bird that we caught that was already banded was one of the last birds caught, and seemed to be one of Anthony's bands from a prior year here (probably last year). It was an AHY (after hatching year) female, but I don't know yet what her age was when she was first banded. It was encouraging to get a return, though! Altogether it was a truly amazing day for us, and we're grateful to be playing hosts to a nice swarm of Ruby-throats. By the way--does anyone know the official name for a "flock" of Ruby-throats? Joe Wicinski says it should be a "war party" of hummers, and I passed that along to Anthony--it sounds about right to me. Good hummingbirding to all, Bill Benner Whately, Franklin Co., MA billb55 AT aol.com Subject: Re: Abutilons From: Nancy L Newfield <nancy AT CASACOLIBRI.NET> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2010 14:09:49 -0500 Susan, At 01:15 PM 8/8/2010, Susan Orwig wrote: >Hi, everybody. I have a healthy influx of rubies in the yard and I'm looking >for the first rufous of the fall any day >now. My question is about Abutilons. >I have the large one with orange flowers and red veins. The hummers and many >other birds are crazy about them. I have them >all over the yard but this year I >have lost three. The first one I attributed to >too much pruning in the summer, >and I thought the others might be due to all of the rain we had in July (14 >inches). Anyone else in Lousiana seeing this problem? To quote my good friend, Melanie, Abutilon is a thankless plant. They will often croak from having too much water on their roots, but just as often, they will croak from no particular cause. As one of the best shrubs for hummers as well as orioles and House Finches, we can't afford to say we'll just do without them. Still, you should always have a back-up plant or two. NLN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nancy L Newfield Casa Colibrí Metairie, Louisiana USA nancy AT casacolibri.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~