VA Birders,
Mary Gustafson banded the hummingbird coming to Haji Warf's feeders in
north Arlington this morning. She determined that this bird is an immature
male Rufous Hummingbird. I was privileged to attend the banding, and it was
indeed a fascinating experience. Among the many things I learned was that
the outer tail feather on the Rufous Hummingbird is notched (Mary showed us
the one on the left side and we could actually see the notch!), and the outer
tail feather on the Allen's is not notched. This fact confirmed the bird's
identification as a Rufous.
Other interesting facts: When Mary weighed this bird, she said its
weight now was 3.7 grams, but that its weight should get up to about 4.4
grams before it would be ready to migrate. She also showed us that many of
its feathers are worn and that it is molting and needs to complete its molt
as well as gain more weight before it migrates further.
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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