[Bristol-Birds] Re: First Ruby-throat in Russell Co. VA

Bristol Area Birders:

Roger Mayhorn asked about info for a Ruby-throated on Clinch Mountains.  I
don't see why that couldn't be.  The birds have been been coming ashore
along the Gulf Coast for about a week.  But they also have a few that
winter.  The following forward is a response made to a report of a
Ruby-throated in Indiana.  It is something to think about.

Let's go birding....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Troy Gordon"
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 9:08 PM
Subject: Re: RT Hummer Already?


> I would think it too early for even the earliest (and most likely to die)
> ruby-throated hummingbird in Indiana.  However, is it possible it was a
> Selasphorus hummingbird?  I don't think we have any idea at all what path
> the Gulf Coast wintering Selasphorus hummingbirds take when migrating back
> to their breeding grounds.  Logic would suggest a more southerly path, but
> to my knowledge, there have been no banding returns during the spring
> northwest migration to demonstrate this.
>
> Selasphorus hummingbirds do migrate in February and March, and it is
> possible they pass through the Midwest undetected, since no one that I
know
> of is looking for them.  It would be a perilous journey, as there is very
> little to use as a food source except for insects on warm days and random
> sapsucker wells (but a migrating bird would not be able to find the wells
> readily).
>
> One year I received a report of a hummingbird in Missouri in February.  It
> was a report from a non-birder, and was easy to disbelieve, but they were
> positive it was a hummingbird.  And maybe it was.  A migrating Selasphorus
> was the best theory I could come up with.
>
> If you don't like the migrating Selasphorus theory, another possibility is
a
> hummingbird that wintered over in a greenhouse illegally (please don't try
> this at home...) and then escaped on a nice day.  If it was a
ruby-throated
> hummingbird, I'm sure it was doomed as their cold tolerance is less then
> some of the western species.
>
> Troy Gordon
> Columbia, MO
>
> 29 days till "H" day and counting down....
>
> -----Original message-----
>
> Subject: RT Hummer Already?
> From: "Dottie, Hickory Hollow, Brown County, Indiana" <yumyumkatts AT
> VOYAGER.NET>
> Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:24:37 -0500
>
> I looked out the window this morning and I thought I saw a hummer. It
looked
> like one and flew like one. It was sitting in my sassafras tree where they
> like
> to sit and then took off. If it was, there is absolutely no food for them
> out
> there.
>
>
> So when we got home from Church, I put one feeder up--just in case they
are
> coming in early. I hope I was wrong. But a couple of years ago, a friend
who
> lives nearby me, reported seeing them about this time in March. Normally,
I
> put
> my first hummer feeder up April 1st. The last two years, I have seen my
> first
> RT on April 19th. exactly to the day.
>
>
> Dottie, Hickory Hollow
>   Brown County, Indiana
>      (50 miles south of Indianapolis)
> Lat: 39.371N  Lon: 86.261W  Zone 5  Elevation:  680 ft


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