[va-bird] Re: Smithsonian Hummingbird this afternoon (11/26/03)

I arrived at 3:35pm and never got to see the hummingbird, and I'm even sadder 
to hear that I just missed it!  I will try again tomorrow.

However, I did get to see two good birds.  A hawk (my first guess would be 
sharp shinned) flew into the same magnolia tree that the hummingbird seemed to 
fly to!  

The other bird I saw was one I need help with.  At first glance, I guessed 
that it was some sort of wren, though I couldn't remember any wren I had seen 
like this.  It was a small, evenly colored brown/tan bird with the most 
wonderful color of orange/buff on it's neck/breast (under its beak).  Upon 
arriving home I looked to my Sibley for guidance, but found nothing that 
struck me like this bird.  My only guess might have been a very plain common 
yellowthroat, though, my gut says it wasn't.  It had a most plain "cheep" to 
it's call as well.  I first spotted it on the ground, but it was wary of my 
presence and flew as I walked with it.  Any ideas?  I'm dying for an ID!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving all,
-Renee Grebe
 Alexandria, VA

p.s. I returned this evening to the two Great Horned Owls hooting behind the 
house, and then one of them flew closer to a tree in plain view of the house.  
Only seconds later, three deer lazily walked in the grass behind the house.  
It was truely a perfect fall day outside!


Quoting craig tumer <ctumer@xxxxxxxxx>:
> This afternoon, on my way home from work, I decided to try for the
> Smithsonian black-chinned hummingbird one more time.  When I first arrived
> (about 2:45) the hummingbird was nowhere to be found, but a common
> yellowthroat feeding in the Clematis growing on the fence on the south side
> of the garden was nice to see this late in November.
>  
> At about 3:12, I spotted the hummingbird feeding in the Salvia guaranitica
> growing under the silverbell tree with the hummingbird feeder.  After a
> couple of minutes, she disappeared behind the arborvitae trees.  I refound
> her several minutes later at the New England asters at the end of the
> flowerbed in the northern part of the garden (the side closest to the Mall). 
> I watched her for several more minutes (at times from as close as
> approximately 15 feet) as she perched and fed at New England asters and a
> shrub with small pink flowers (I didn't look at the label, but it looks like
> something in the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae)) in the northern part of
> the garden.  Several times, I saw her catch small flying insects.  At
> approximately 3:25 she flew to the large southern magnolia in the Hirshorn
> gardens to the east.  
>  
> After my initial sighting, the hummingbird never returned to the Salvias or
> to the hummingbird feeder.  This afternoon, she spent most of her time at the
> pink-flowered shrub.  So...anyone looking for the hummingbird this weekend
> should pay attention to all of the flowers remaining in the garden, not just
> the Salvias.
>  
> Happy Thanksgiving.
>  
> Craig Tumer
> Washington, DC
> 
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