I would respectfully suggest that for the migratory portion of the ANHU
population a weight of that magnitude is not possible. That figure is
really hard to believe and it would be interesting to see some more data
from the California populations.
I have examined my database and did find one male ANHU that weighed 6.0
grams, a bird caught on 1/14/14 in Lajitas along the Rio Grande.
Otherwise, the largest weight registered on an individual was 5.6 grams and
less than 5% of the birds we have caught in west Texas have weighed over 5
grams. KBB
On Sun, Oct 9, 2016 at 4:33 PM, <iprhummers@xxxxxxx> wrote:
FYI...we have banded thousands of ANHUs here in the Sierra foothills since
2003. The heaviest we have banded weighed 8.1 grams! It was a male and
was banded on October 22, 2006. The bird was weighed twice just to
confirm. When we had finished recording all the data, we put the bird in
hand and as it took off it dropped slightly before it gained altitude. It
was fun to watch.
Barbara Robinson
Indian Peak Ranch
Sierra Foothills near Yosemite, CA
On Oct 9, 2016, at 1:19 PM, Kelly Bryan wrote:
Kay and Robert,
This has been an excellent year for ANHUs in the Davis Mts of west Texas.
In July, we doubled the Texas records for the month with 5 different
individuals present. Numbers have built up from then until now. There are
likely 20-30 birds in the mountains at present. To my knowledge there have
been no reports from the lower desert yet where they will be most common
come winter. They should arrive down there very shortly.
With that said, among the 500 or so ANHUs that we have banded in west
Texas, we have never encountered a bird weighing 8.8 grams! We have never
had one weighing more than 6 grams. 8.8 grams is the weight of a MAHU not
an ANHU. I would be very interested in seeing your measurement data. Did
this bird have any red central gorget feathers? HY females normally do
although a very small percentage don't. Please post some pictures if you
have them. Thanks. KBB
On Sun, Oct 9, 2016 at 12:48 PM, R&K Lookingbill <
rklookingbill@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello fellow humbanders,
The RTHU migration is dwindling, but still catching a few stragglers. We
were surprised to catch a much larger hummer in our yard this afternoon -
weighing in at 8.8 g, (compared to the diminutive 3 to 5 g RTHUs ).
After studying it, we determined it is a HY-F Anna’s hummingbird.
We have only banded 2 or 3 of these ever in SE Texas, so this was a very
nice treat for us!
Maybe this bodes well for a winter season of a nice diversity of hummers!
Kay & Robert Lookingbill
Lake Jackson, TX
--
Kelly B Bryan
Fort Davis, Texas
To follow the progress of my hummingbird project go to:
http://westtexashummingbirds.com/
To support this project, other bird projects and our educational outreach
in west Texas go to: http://www.westtexasavianresearch.org/
