Dear Birders: Lou and I took up the Kacmarciks on their generous offer and visited their home on Monday (12/6) to take a look at the rare female Allen's Hummingbird, a visitor from California. We arrived a little after 8 am and Mike who was working in the back yard informed us that the backyard feeder had not been visited since the recently attached heater was installed and directed us to the front yard feeders. The feeders in the front yard were frozen (although fresh sugar water was put in at daybreak) and we saw the hummer come and make an unsuccessful attempt to feed. About half an hour later, she returned to the feeders which were in direct sunlight and manged to stick her bill to the bottom of one of the feeders to avail herself of the little amount of melted sugar water. She came back a third time to feed successfully before we left around 9 am. This is one beautiful bird as you can tell from the attached photos and looks almost identical to the female Rufous Hummingbird that wintered with us in 2005/2006. Both Mrs. Kacmarcik and Mrs. Allen deserve their star status as indicated by the coverage in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Thank you Julie and Mike for sharing her with the birding community. Naseem Reza
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