[Bristol-Birds] Re: favorable weather was in Musick's hummer's cards

  • From: Michele Sparks <navigate48@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Wallace Coffey <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>, Bristol-Birds <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:11:16 -0500

I appreciate your written follow-up on the Rufous Hummingbird at Musick's 
Campground. Having the uncommon opportunity to see her in the dead of winter 
was a highlight for me as a new birder. Her fate is our reflection on all 
things that could be. We owe a debt of gratitude to Mae Musick for going the 
distance to keep this Rufous alive during her frigid ordeal in the mountains of 
East Tennessee.










 
 

Michele Sparks 
Bluff City, TN
 





From: jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx
To: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Bristol-Birds] favorable weather was in Musick's hummer's cards
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:30:11 -0500











We will never know why or if the Rufous Hummingbird left
Musick's Campground but there is evidence the urge to
travel north for the spring may have played a role.
 
Mae Musick's knowledge of its stay spans an estimated 69 days
or 11 weeks -- almost 2.5 winter months.  It was first 
seen
there 4 Nov 2009 and last seen 11 Jan 2010.  
 
Now, in its third calendar year of life, this female (as a 
survivor)
may go to nest where she was hatched in early 2008, anywhere 
from
the most northwestern US states, across British Columbia or
even into the Yukon Territory in western Canada.
 
She was trapped and found banded at 8:00 a.m. on 1 Dec 2009 
at Musick's Campground and determined to have 
been banded by James Bell at Pass Christian, Mississippi 
which
is on the Gulf coast a bit west of Biloxi and Gulfport .
 
One year from that date in Mississippi, she was
wintering at Musick's Campground.  She fed long and frequently
at the Musick's heated feeder until she was last seen there 
near
dusk at 5:20 pm. on 11 Jan 2010.
 
She survived (probably with ease) the deepest freeze in this area 

since the 1930s.
 
On 8 Jan she experienced the coldest night which
was 3 degrees and then conditions began to turn around on the 
10th with 11 Jan being the warmest since New Years day.  
On that evening she fed with anticipation.  She was probably gone 

quickly as the overnight temperature soared upwards by some
14 degrees from the previous night's low of 6, driven by 
the daytime high which went to nearly 40 degrees in two 
days.
 
Daylight was then getting longer with earlier dawns and later
dusks.  Musick's Campground had past its longest nights of
the winter in late December.  Weeks later in January, it was
easier to get longer days and visits to the feeder. 
 
Mostly likely, she left quickly as conditions became favorable.
 
Her journey north is ahead, no matter the direction of the
compass she headed as she departed Musick's Campground 
or the distance she put behind.
 
In such cases, I wonder how long it was until she needed
another meal and how far she flew before getting it.  I 
also
wonder if she is just a few houses away, a few hundred
miles away or approaching a thousand.
 
These hummers have a lifestyle that goes beyond our
birding logic, until we look closer and think it over.
 
Let's go birding . . .
 
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
                                          
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