Linda, Joel, et al,
Here at Thornton Creek (interior Coast Range, Lincoln County) Anna's is still a
"good" bird. I don't see one every year. In fact, I have probably only seen one
here on maybe five occasions, total. Of those five occasions, one was of an
adult male which spent about a week here one spring. The rest have all been one
day wonders of females or perhaps immature males, always in mid to late fall. I
saw one here this fall a couple of weeks back. I presume these are post
breeding dispersal birds looking for new territories. Apparently, as has been
noted, the species is a city slicker.
Darrel
From: "Joel Geier" <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
To: "Linda Fink" <linda@xxxxxxxx>, "Oregon Birders OnLine" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "MidValley Birds" <birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 6:29:58 PM
Subject: [obol] Re: Anna's Hummingbird? Yamhill County near Grand Ronde
Hi Linda (& other folks),
I see that you already got confirmation from Floyd Schrock and others
that indeed this is an Anna's Hummingbird, so I'll just add some notes
on the local mid-Willamette Valley perspective, since to me this is one
of those really fascinating topics about local status, right up there
with Wrentits!
For most of the past 20 years, there has been a curious dichotomy
between urban/suburban abundance of Anna's Hummingbirds, vs. rural
rarity.
Corvallis residents have been enjoying them around town in good numbers
at least since 1998, and probably long before that. North Albany started
to pick them up around 2003 or thereabouts (I remember Alan McGie was
excited to finally get them in his yard).
At our old rental farmhouse in rural southern Polk Co., we just saw
single Anna's hummers just a couple of times in the space of 10 years.
There were no records at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area until just a few
years ago. However in the past 3 years they've become regular at our
house just across the highway, and you can now find at least 6 or 7
displaying males on the wildlife area in season.
However, your experience in Grand Ronde shows that there are still some
rural areas that Anna's Hummingbirds have been slow to infiltrate. I'm
glad you reported this one, since it helps to fill out the picture of
their ongoing gradual expansion in some parts of the Willamette Valley!
Recently I've been helping to update the checklists for the
mid-Willamette Valley refuges. One striking thing was that reports of
Anna's Hummingbirds from Baskett Slough NWR -- and even from Finley NWR
-- are still pretty sparse. Ankeny NWR has had far more reports, perhaps
because it's in a more suburban setting.
If anyone else out there reading this still hasn't seen Anna's
Hummingbirds as rural yard birds, that would be interesting to hear. If
you don't want to post on OBOL or the MidValley birding list, you can
send me a note and I'll piece together a summary.
Happy birding,
Joel
On Friday, 13 Nov 2015 Linda Fink wrote:
If it is, it's the first we've ever had at our coast range farm
near Grand Ronde Agency, Yamhill County. I'd be grateful if
folks more knowledgeable than I about Anna's Hummingbirds (just
about everyone) would take a look and comment. Thanks!
http://lindafink-birdnotes.blogspot.com/2015/11/annas-hummingbird-farm-bird-151.html
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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