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NC hummer update



Dear All,

Just a short update with some highlights of the hummer goings on in North
Carolina.  Firstly, there are *A LOT* of hummers reported in the state so
far--and it is very early in the season yet.  Unfortunately some birds
disappeared after the ice storm last week it seems most are doing just fine.
Thankfully we in the Sandhills were without power for only a few days and
suffered relatively little damage.

Not surprisingly, I have already banded a number of Rufous Hummingbirds and
have a bunch more Rufous-looking hummingbirds on the schedule over the next
few weeks.  And, as usual, they are all over the place.  Here in Moore Co.
we have five currently, four of which are (banded) Rufous.  The fifth showed
up at the Salvia van Houtii in our yard on Thanksgiving!  Finally I have my
own winter hummingbird!!  It looks to be an immature female Selasphorus and
she is pretty shy.  I see or hear her a  few times a day.  She seems only
mildly interested the feeders (maybe she knows what's coming...) here or at
my neighbor's.  Of course we are right on a small lake so there is no lack
of insect life all around us.  Oddly, the hummer has some competition from a
particular Carolina Chickadee who has been actually drinking (!) from the
back Perky Pet Four Fountain all week long!

Just before the ice storm I was out on the northern end of the Outer Banks
(Dare Co.) to catch Ruby-throated (record numbers of these birds all along
on our coast this year too) and had a very interesting (albeit short) trip.
I recaptured an adult female at the same feeder I banded her at last winter.
I also had two young males that were fat!  Both had furicular hollows that
were at least halfway filled!  These wintering birds are not just surviving
here but taking advantage of some darned good habitat by the looks of it...

We have had two Calliopes here in the center of the state so far this year.
The juvenile male in Castaila (Franklin Co.)disappeared the day after a hard
freeze killed the plants he had been dining---on without ever investigating
the feeder.  The adult male is now regularly using feeders at his location
north of Chapel Hill (Orange Co.)and I plan to pay him a visit in order to
fix him up with some jewelry this week.  And there is now a third Calliope
in Greensboro (Guilford Co.)that I banded yesterday.  Its  a juvenile male
with three bright flaring magenta feathers on the left side of his throat.
Another gorgeous bird!

Speaking of young male Calliopes, the folks who hosted the young male that I
banded last year in Winston-Salem (Charlie and Ann Williams; Forsyth Co.)
have been blessed with a handsome juvenile Rufous this year. He is in very
advanced plumage for  hatch-year bird: his body is almost completely rufous,
and his gorget is more than half filled in and he even has 4 adult tail
feathers already!  As was the case with the previous wintering hummingbirds
at the Williams's he is getting the Royal Treatment (heat lamp, fresh food
every day).  I think the word is out in the hummer world about these good
folks!

And finally, I recaptured our Rufous state record holder (for winter returns
to the same feeder) in Shelby (Cleveland Co.) just before Thanksgiving.  She
is back for her fourth winter (originally banded as an immature in January
1999) in a row.  She is a striking hummingbird who is having a bit of a
challenge this winter.  She is being forced to share her territory with a
second bird, a juvenile female Rufous!  It was quite something watching and
listening to them interact while I was there.  Even with multiple feeders
and fantastic habitat, it was non-stop action.

I expect I will be posting another update before too long.  But until then
Happy Holidays to all--

Susan Campbell
Whispering Pines, NC