After putting out notice of a second Selasphorus hummingbird in Rockingham
County yesterday, I was reminded in an email from Mike Shank that his sister
and her family have had a Selasphorus hummingbird at their home near
Montezuma for the past four weeks. He had put its initial discovery on email
October 10th and I remembered that, but having heard nothing more of the bird
since, I had assumed it had moved on. I went over to see it this morning and
it was more like the second bird I saw in Lakewood subdivision of
Harrisonburg than the first bird in Grottoes. All three birds hang out in
the back yards of these homes and give frequent views at feeders close to the
house. Bird #3, perhaps by having been here longer, has become much less
skittish than the other two, and movement of people inside the house while it
is feeding does not cause it to bolt momentarily, as is the case with #2, and
I believe to some extent with #1.
This third bird differs from the Lakewood bird in having a darker chin and
much more rufous scattered around the upper back. Bob Sargent stated in an
email to me about bird #2 that if a Selasphorus has any "brown" in the green
of the upper back at all, it is [not only a male Selasphorus, it is] a male
Rufous. That clinches the identification of birds # 2 and 3 as Rufous
immature males, and leaves only bird #1 with a chance of being an Allen's.
When Mary Gustafson comes down here and bands it, we'll settle that question.
The bird in the countryside just south of Montezuma is at the home of a
Mennonite farm family, Don and Lydia ("Liddy") Rhodes. Many of the
Mennonites in our area are intensely interested in birds, and are the source
of a number of surprising bird records around their farms. For some
examples, the Rhodes family had a White-winged Crossbill at their feeder last
fall, seen by many people. Mike and Evelyn Shank's family had a Rufous
Hummingbird at their feeder for a short while about nine years or so ago, and
two winters ago a Lark Sparrow and later two Snow Buntings around one of
their barns--and several Golden Plovers in one of their fields still another
year.
Don and Liddy are most hospitable and welcome birders to come and see their
hummer, but ask that you call them first at (540) 879-9791.
To reach their farm:
Coming from the north, leave I-81 at exit 247 and go west through downtown
Harrisonburg on US 33. Go around the courthouse and up the hill on the far
side and turn left at a major stoplight on Virginia Route 42 (which is
Virginia Avenue on the right, South High Street on the left). Continue on 42
through Harrisonburg (it eventually becomes John Wayland Highway) and on
south into the next town, Dayton, where there are two stop lights close
together. Turn right at the second stop light onto Virginia Rt. 257, which
will become Ottobine Road. That stop light will be point zero for
measurement purposes.
If you are coming up I-81 from the south, take exit 243, which brings you out
on Route 11 near the southern border of Harrisonburg. Turn left (south) on
Route 11 (South Main Street) and drive a short distance until you come to the
new Harrisonburg Post Office on your right, which is "conveniently located"
virtually out in the countryside. Turn right just past the Post Office onto
Corporate Drive, which soon runs into Pike Church Road. Go right on Pike
Church Road, drive over two hills, and turn right onto Liskey Road. A short
distance ahead Liskey Road runs into West Mosby Road. Turn left on West
Mosby, go down the hill and through the turkey processing plant, and you will
immediately come to a stop light at Route 42. This is the northernmost of
the two stop lights in downtown Dayton. Jog left on 42 (John Wayland
Highway) to the next stop light, and turn right on Va. Rt. 257. At that
stoplight, you are now at point zero.
Drive west on Rt. 257 (Ottobine Road) for 2.8 miles into the town of
Montezuma and turn left onto Thomas Spring Road. (Watch carefully for slow
Mennonite buggies drawn by horses, and Mennonite people riding bicycles, on
these roads.) Proceed south for 0.4 miles, over the hill, and you will come
to a Y where Thomas Spring Road goes to the left and Silver Creek Road goes
right. Keep left on Thomas Spring Road for about 0.1 mile and turn left at
the first entrance you come to, which is for the Rhodes farm; their name is
on a sign in small letters.
Their lane curves around to the left and passes between a turkey barn on the
left side and a lower poultry house on the right. Then you will see another
lane that turns off to the right at a right angle, going between a tractor
shed on the right and a turkey barn on the left. This lane leads to their
house after curving left beyond the turkey barn. Their house is tucked back
in against a hill and is not visible until you have gone a short ways along
that lane.
One has to wonder how many more of these little creatures are buzzing around
these parts. And has any county in any state east of the Mississippi claimed
three Selasphorus hummers at the same time? We doubt that this has ever
happened in Virginia. Maybe in another nine years they will be ho-hum birds.
For now, they're not. We're ecstatic. Who'd-a-thunk-it? Rockingham
County, Selasphorus capital of Virginia! Mary, come down from Maryland and
band these little beauties!
John Irvine
Harrisonburg, VA
John Irvine
Harrisonburg, VA
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