Hooray! A winter hummingbird has come to stay!

On November 29th we were elated when we saw a hummingbird drinking from a feeder near our front porch. I knew it had been a couple of weeks since I changed the sugar water in the feeder, so I quickly made some fresh juice and filled up 3 feeders. The next day we saw the hummer again, but only for a second.
A few days later, I saw the hummingbird drinking from a patch of winter shrimp plant that was growing in a protected spot near the house. It looked like some kind of Selasphorus, probably a Rufous, but I couldn't be sure of more since I didn't have binoculars with me.

Today I finally was able to take some pictures of it. I sent some of the photos to our friend and local hummingbird bander, Linda Beall. She said that it looks like an immature female Rufous, but not to rule out an Allen's.

In Louisiana, any hummingbird observed after November 15th is considered a "winter hummingbird". Each sighting is reported to a local hummingbird bander and if the property owner wishes, the hummingbird is captured and a numbered band is placed on its leg. We are blessed with two expert licensed banders here in the New Orleans / North Shore area. Linda Beall handles most of the activity here on the northshore and Nancy Newfield (author of many publications) bands on the south shore and some places here on the north.

It has been at least 2 years since we hosted a winter hummingbird in our habitat here on the Tchefuncte River in South Louisiana. We look forward to this little western visitor brightening those dull winter days with its "ticks" and "whirs" as it makes its way around the garden.

For more information about winter hummingbirds, check out the following sites:
Banding a Hummingbird
Winged Jewels of Winter
Hummingbirds.net
Linda Beall's page
Winter Hummingbirds of Southwestern Louisiana
Cornell Project Feeder Watch - Hummingbirds in Winter

Hummingbird Migration & Banding

This morning, Linda and I caught and banded 9 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. According to past years' study data for early August, numbers of migrating Ruby-throats are down this year. In past years (before Hurricane Katrina) we would capture from 25-30 hummingbirds during the 4 hour period. Most of the hummers we caught this morning were immature (first year) birds. We saw only one adult male and he would not go into the trap.

On Sept. 6, Linda will be banding hummingbirds at Mizell's Butterfly and Hummingbird Extravaganza in Folsom, LA. This festival is filled with lots of fun for the whole family. There will also be plenty of plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies available for sale. For more information about the festival, visit our Mizell's Butterfly and Hummingbird Extravaganza Squidoo page.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Linda and I resumed our weekly Ruby-throated hummingbird banding sessions on July 8th. We had stopped banding during the month of June because numbers were so low this year, much below normal, and they always plummet while the Mimosa trees are in bloom. We caught 9 hummingbirds and only a couple were returnees (that had been banded in previous years). Most of the ones that we banded were immature birds that hatched this year. Numbers have been down ever since Katrina and the post Katrina debris removal fiasco which damaged the breeding habitat here.

The hummingbird garden is full of flowers and looks beautiful. We're waiting for the annual "gathering of the males" that usually occurs around July 4th, but we have yet to see many adult males or much of an increase in numbers. Something is definitely wrong. We wonder if, in addition to the habitat destruction, that all of the pesticides that are being sprayed to kill mosquitoes because of the West Nile disease are killing the the small flying insects that provide the hummingbirds with needed protein during the breeding season.