I have permission of the author of this posting on the Massachusetts version of
va-bird to pass it along to our subscribers. While winter in Virginia is
nothing like it can be in New England, the advice is still sound:
It is exciting that several western hummers are in the state, but a note of
caution. Be sure to take your hummingbird feeders down as October begins, mid
October AT THE LATEST if the weather remains good. A sad pattern has occurred
all too frequently in MA, where the hosts of these hummers keep waiting for
the birds to leave....and they don't. Before you know it, the first frosts
have come, most of the flowers have died, insects are tough to come by and
that hummer at your feeder is trapped there and will most likely not survive.
Why these Selasphorus hummers don't move on while the Ruby-throats do is not
clear. All I can say is that I have had to deal with several very emotional
folks over the years, well meaning hummer hosts, who have had to face the
fact that when they now take their feeders down (sometimes as late as the end
of November and the bird is still there) chances are it will not survive. It
has not been a pleasant situation. We are not an area like the Gulf States
where we can expect to maintain hummer feeders outside year round: it's not
going to work and despite your best intentions, you may in fact be luring the
bird to it's demise..
Fish and Wildlife (state or national) will NOT issue any permits to take
these birds into greenhouses. The justly famous Ruffy was/is a special case
and she (Ruffy) illustrates the problem. Fish and Wildlife folk obviously saw
this as a very slippery slope and are adamant about not issuing anymore. I
can see their point, judging by Ruffy's behavior, before you know it, there
would be a dozen Selasphorus spending winters every year in people's
greenhouses: a very UN-NATURAL state of affairs. After all, you don't want to
keep Blackpolls indoors. You would rather see them migrating and on their
way. There are folks who illegally net and keep these hummers and my advice
is DON'T. Let the birds move on.
We are not sure what we are witnessing here: true natural vagrancy or a
change in migration pattern aided by humans or a bit of both. My intuition
says that small numbers of Selasphorus head east then south every year, but
weirdly get way-layed by hummingbird feeders. For some damned reason, many
(not all) stay.
So if you really care about the bird itself, take tons of photos, and then
take your feeders down while the weather is still warm and there are still
insects aplenty and lots of blooms for the little buggers to nectar on en
route to their final winter destination. And that means pretty soon.
Harry Glasgow
aglasgow@xxxxxxx
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