Category Archives: Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds receive warm welcome upon their return

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                    The last Ruby-throated Hummingbird to visit my feeders in 2015.

My last ruby-throated hummingbird in 2015 visited my sugar water feeder close to dusk on Oct. 10. I never saw any hummingbirds after that date.

I’m always a little wistful when the last hummingbirds depart in the autumn, but I know they’ll return in the spring. This year, a male ruby-throated hummingbird returned on April 12, 180 days after the last hummingbird departed last fall.

What do the hummingbirds that make their homes in our yards from April to October do during the five months they are absent from the region?

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                       The first male Ruby-throated Hummingbird to visit my feeders in 2016 was a bit camera shy.

Most ruby-throated hummingbirds retreat to southern Mexico and Central America, some winging their way as far south as extreme western Panama, as well as the West Indies and southern Florida. They utilize a variety of habitats, ranging from citrus groves and forest edges to tropical deciduous forests and the edges of rivers and wetlands.

Those ruby-throated hummingbirds that make it as far south as Panama may find that they must compete with 59 other species of hummingbirds that call the Central America country home. Panamanian species that a ruby-throated hummingbird might possibly come into contract with include violet sabrewing, purple-throated mountain gem and white-necked jacobin.

In this region, we can only expect with any confidence to enjoy a single species — the aforementioned ruby-throated hummingbird — for half the year. It’s always great to welcome them home. Here are some of the other hummingbird enthusiasts who shared their “first arrivals” with me.

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Doris Cochran in Marion, North Carolina, saw her first hummingbird on April 6.

“I was having my morning coffee … looking out at the frost we got in Marion last night,” she wrote. Then, from inside her home, she happened to notice something. Giving her sugar water feeder a closer look, she was surprised to see a hummingbird perched on it.

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Beverly Puerckhauer sent me an email on April 5. She informed me that she has house finches visiting at her home, but she hasn’t yet seen a hummingbird.

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Jimmie Daniels, Newland, North Carolina, reported her first hummingbird on April 8.

“I just saw a hummingbird at my house and my feeder was inside,” she informed me by email. “The feeder is out now, but he had already left. I sure hope he comes back.”

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Glen Eller, a resident of Kingsport, Tennessee, saw his first ruby-throated hummingbird of the season on Sunday, April 10, at 6:35 p.m. He shared his observation through a post to the list-serve bristol-birds.

•••••

Pat Stakely Cook notified me of a first hummingbird sighting by Facebook post. “We had our first one here in Marion, North Carolina, on Sunday, April 10,” Pat reported, adding that there had been lots of activity around the feeders once that first hummer showed up.

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Philip Laws, a resident of the Limestone Cove community in Unicoi County, Tennessee, reported his first hummingbird on Monday, April 11.

“I just saw my first hummingbird in Limestone Cove, a male of course, about noon,” he reported in a Facebook message. He added that he hadn’t had time to check his feeder on the previous day, but that the sugar water level was down enough to suggest that the hummingbird had probably been feeding on Sunday, too.

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Susie Condrey of Marion, North Carolina, welcomed back a hummingbird on April 11 at 4:15 p.m.

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Janice Denton of Bristol, Tennessee, reported her first spring hummer arrived on April 11.

“I was sitting on my front porch about 7 on Monday evening when a hummingbird went flying by,” she wrote in an email. “I have my feeders in front of three different windows, so when I went inside, I saw the ruby-throated hummingbird feeding at each of my feeders.”

Janice added that she loves watching the hummingbirds feed. “They are such amazing creatures of God,” she wrote.

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Debbie Oliver, also of Bristol, Tennessee, also reported that her first hummer arrived on April 11.

“I just saw my first hummingbird this spring,” she wrote in her email. She noticed the bird flying around the hummingbird feeder at 7:35 p.m.

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Lorraine Hale posted on bristol-birds that she saw two hummingbirds on Monday, April 11, at her home in Bluff City, Tennessee.

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Karen Andis saw her first hummingbird at her shop on Smith Creek Road in Washington County, Virginia.

“I wanted to let you know we saw our first hummingbird on April 12 at 12:25 p.m.,” she wrote. She added that she has only one feeder out, which still managed to attract this hummingbird.

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Joan Moffitt posted on my Facebook page that she saw her first hummingbird of spring on Tuesday, April 12, around 2:45 p.m. She put out her feeder on Saturday, April 9.

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Harold and Elizabeth Willis saw their first hummingbird at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, April 13. The couple resides in Marion, North Carolina, in the Hankins community near Lake James.

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Photo Courtesy of Linda Kessinger Rhodes Linda Kessinger Rhodes photographed her newly-arrived hummingbird and shared the photo on Facebook.

Linda Kessinger Rhodes sent me a Facebook message reporting her first hummingbird of spring on Thursday, April 14. “There he was — the first hummer I’ve seen at my waiting feeder off Volunteer Parkway in Bristol near the racetrack,” she wrote.

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Marty Huber and Jo Ann Detta of Abingdon, Virginia, spotted their first spring hummer on April 14.

“Our hummingbird arrived  April 14 at 8:10 p.m. just before it got dark,” they shared in an email. “it was so exciting to see the hummer sitting and relaxing on our nectar feeder.”

This year’s hummingbird arrived two days later than last year.

“We hope this one stays around as last year it was ten days before we saw another hummer,” they added.

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Bill and Judy Beckman, who reside on Spivey Mountain in Unicoi County, Tennessee, saw their first hummingbird — a male — around 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 14.

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Steve Meigs saw his first hummingbird of the spring at 11:30 a.m. on April 14 at his home in Foxhound Hills in the Limestone Cove community of Unicoi. “That’s a few days earlier than the last few years,” Steve noted, adding that his home is located at an elevation of 2,800 feet.

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Phyllis Moore informed me via Facebook that her hummingbirds are back in Bristol, Virginia, as of 7:30 p.m. on April 20.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                     Now that they’re back, hummingbirds will probably stick around until early October.

James Noel Smith of Unicoi informed my via Facebook that the hummingbirds are back at his Unicoi, Tennessee, home as of April 26.

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To learn more about birds and other topics from the natural world, friend Stevens on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ahoodedwarbler. He is always posting about local birds, wildlife, flowers, insects and much more. If you have a question, wish to make a comment or share a sighting, email ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Birds adopt many strategies for care of their young

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One question that tends to pop up every June in my email or on Facebook concerns the presence of hummingbirds.  The status of hummingbirds at my own home since their arrival back in April has been somewhat sporadic. I think this has been noticed by some other people, too.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                                                  A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird visits a feeders. Female hummingbirds in our yards in June and July are probably nesting residents.

The hummingbirds were scarce in April and May. When June arrived, their numbers began to increase.

However, this pattern that I saw this year is usually just the opposite. The hummingbirds are usually abundant in early spring, taper off in June and July, and then increase again in August and September. Basically, I think their numbers just naturally fluctuate. Some years we have more of them than other years.

There are other possibilities to explain the absence of hummingbirds. It’s always possible that hummingbirds, adhering to the philosophy that “the grass is always greener” elsewhere have taken to exploring a neighbor’s yard and gardens.

Hummingbirds, like many of the songbirds that spend the summer season with us, keep busy this time of year with the task of raising offspring. That alone could explain a temporary lull in their numbers in our yards and gardens.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                                A young Eastern Towhee, not long out of the nest, looks for sunflower seeds in the grass beneath a feeder.

Many species of birds attempt to nest two or even three times during the summer nesting season. So far this year, I’ve observed nesting activity by a wide variety of birds, including Northern cardinals, brown thrashers, Eastern towhees, Eastern bluebirds, tree swallows, song sparrows, white-breasted nuthatches, Carolina wrens and downy woodpeckers.

All birds, from tiny hummingbirds that are mere inches long to an ostrich that can stand more than nine feet tall, start out as eggs. Birds have developed a range of ways to protect and incubate eggs to ensure the continuance of the species.

For many birds, the strategy is to produce as many young as possible in a limited amount of time. The hooded warbler, which spends the winter months in Central America, will usually make multiple nesting attempts in a season. The female constructs a cup-shaped nest, which is a design common to many of our songbirds. She will lay three to five eggs in the nest. Incubation of the eggs is a duty usually performed solely by the female, but her mate helps by guarding the nest and surrounding territory. Both parents feed the young once they have hatched after about two weeks.

Not all birds share in the task of caring for helpless young. For instance, the male ruby-throated hummingbird shows not the slightest inclination to assist the female with the duties of rearing young. All ruby-throated hummingbirds are raised by single mothers. Male hummingbirds spend the summer sipping nectar, dueling with other male hummers and courting multiple females.

Hooded warbler pairs, as is the case with many songbirds, share the work of feeding and tending young. Many of these young birds spend very little time in the nest after hatching. Hooded warblers have typically left the nest within nine days of hatching, although parents continue to feed the young as they learn to fly and care for themselves.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                    An Eastern phoebe fledgling perches on a tree branch.

Some birds, such as Northern Cardinals, often delegate the duty to the male for caring for young that have fledged from the nest. As the male trains and continues to feed the maturing young, the female cardinal often begins the work of building a second nest, laying another clutch of eggs and incubating them. Time is scarce. By getting a jump-start on a second nest, the female cardinal, if successful, may produce eight to ten new cardinals in a single nesting season.

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A painting of Brown-headed Cowbirds by John James Audubon.

Some birds, however, have bypassed the necessity of nesting altogether. If all hummingbirds are reared by females, then all young cowbirds are from foster homes, or nests. Female cowbirds slip their eggs into the nest of other unsuspecting songbirds. The hooded warbler is often a victim of this practice, which is known as “nest parasitism.” Some experts have conducted studies that indicate as many as 75 percent of hooded warblers in some areas are parents to cowbirds foisted on them.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                Young barn swallows in their nest await a delivery of food by their parents.

It’s not wise to condemn cowbirds for a behavior that would strike us as immoral. The peculiar reproduction strategy for the cowbird came about as a natural necessity. Cowbirds once followed the massive herds of bison across the North American continent, feeding on the insects and seeds displaced by the hooves of these huge animals. Since the bison herds stayed on the move, the cowbirds didn’t have the luxury of staying put for a couple of months to raise young.

The decimation of the bison herds could have proven a disaster for the cowbirds. That wasn’t the case, however, since these adaptable birds simply switched from following bison herd to doing the same with the enormous numbers of domestic cattle that inherited the range of the buffalo, or bison.

These are just a select few ways that birds succeed year after year in the never-ending effort to ensure the survival of the species for another generation. Many obstacles stand in their way. Any time you see birds bringing their babies to a feeder in your yard or a shrub in your garden, recognize this moment as a singular triumph for the labor and dedication our fine feathered friends have invested in this outcome.

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Photo Courtesy of Jean Potter                                                                                                                A young Red-eyed Vireo calls for food while concealed on the ground after leaving the nest. As is the case with most songbirds, parents continue to care for young even after they have left the nest.

Wintering hummingbirds are not exclusive to United States

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Photo Courtesy of Faye Guinn                  The Rufous Hummingbird is shown visiting a feeder at the Guinn home.

The hummingbird that had been at the home of Howard and Faye Guinn since October departed on Dec. 23. Faye informed me of the bird’s departure in an email.

“I got to have a winter hummingbird for two days of winter,” she wrote. “He surely decided to spend the holidays in Mexico. I hope he finds flowers in bloom there. Hummingbirds and flowers just go together.”

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I had written about wintering hummingbirds in previous blog posts, including the one visiting the Guinn home near Jonesborough, Tennessee. After reading one of my recent blog posts on wintering hummingbirds, I received an email from Oscar, a resident of Vancouver, Canada, and a self-proclaimed “bird-lover.”

He also informed me that wintering hummingbirds are not a phenomenon exclusive to the United States. Some of these tiny birds also spend time north of the border during the winter months.

“We are delighted  to have these beautiful little birds visiting our feeder at our window every day,” Oscar wrote. “Every 10 minutes he drinks and goes back to the same tree branch.”

While Vancouver is a rather temperate city, Oscar said the temperature can get cool on some days.

“He doesn’t  go away for long periods,” Oscar reported. “It seems to look like he is afraid to lose his food to another bird, when his partner tries to feed he chases him away like he is very upset and not sharing his food, no matter what. Is this  behavior common among these birds?”

In my reply, I did note that hummingbirds are usually quite territorial. Any readers who hosts more than one hummingbird at a time is probably familiar with the chasing antics Oscar described in his email.

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Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service                        An Anna’s Hummingbird perches on a branch.

“Watching this is so entertaining , like a gift from God,” Oscar shared. “We can’t have enough of it.”

I did some research, which informed me that Oscar’s visiting hummingbirds are likely Anna’s hummingbirds.

A species native to western North America, the Anna’s

hummingbird is a year-round resident of the Pacific Coast. It ranges from northern Baja to points as far north as Vancouver and southern British Columbia.

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Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service              A male Anna’s Hummingbird spreads it wings while settling onto a perch.

René Primevère Lesson, a French ornithologist and author of a manual for ornithology, gave the Anna’s Hummingbird its name.

This bird was named after Anna Masséna, Duchess of Rivoli. She served as an attendant for  Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III and the last Empress consort of the French.

Another hummingbird — the Magnificent Hummingbird — was also named by Lesson to honor François Victor Masséna, the Duke of Rivoli and husband of the Duchess Anna. Until the 1980s this large hummingbird was known as Rivoli’s Hummingbird.

In the early 20th century, Anna’s hummingbird bred only in northern Baja California and southern California. Modern landscaping techniques, including the planting of exotic shrubs and flowers, has helped this hummingbird expand its range north, especially in urban and suburban areas.

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Early naturalist John James Audubon created this painting of Anna’s Hummingbirds.

I’ve seen several of the western species of hummingbirds, but I haven’t had the opportunity to observe an Anna’s Hummingbird. I suppose that species remains near the top of my “bird bucket list.”

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Until the recent cold snap, it has been a relatively mild winter. Even the Arctic blast produced mostly cold and very little in the way of snow.

The frigid conditions did, not surprisingly, result in increased traffic at my feeders.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                     A Tufted Titmouse and Downy Woodpecker visit a suet feeder.

I haven’t hosted any birds as exotic as an Anna’s Hummingbird this winter, but the flocks of Pine Siskins and Purple Finches continue to grow. The arrival of January has seen as many as 25 Pine Siskins and about a dozen Purple Finches at my feeders.

I always offer suet cakes as well as seeds, an offering that seems much appreciated by birds as diverse as Carolina Chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers to Carolina Wrens and Blue Jays. I usually buy commercially prepared suet/peanut butter cakes, which disappear quickly once the birds find them. The occasional squirrel also helps with making short work of them.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                                                                                                              A mixed flock of American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins scour the ground beneath a feeder.

Jonesborough couple hosting wintering hummingbird

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I received a phone call in late November from Elizabethton resident Susan Peters, who informed me that one of her friends in a local hiking organization was hosting a hummingbird.

But hummingbirds are summer birds from the tropics, right? Doesn’t the cold weather present a shock to these visitors?

Actually, many hummingbirds are adapted to frigid conditions. Rufous Hummingbirds are quite capable of surviving freezing conditions, as long as they have access to a source of food. In spring, they migrate through California, before eventually spending the summer in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

Photo courtesy of Faye Guinn Not even an occasional bout of snowy weather has deterred this hummingbird from visiting a feeder at the home of Howard and Faye Guinn.

Photo courtesy of Faye Guinn
Not even an occasional bout of snowy weather has deterred this hummingbird from visiting a feeder at the home of Howard and Faye Guinn. The brownish hummingbird is hovering in front of the feeder. Notice a male Northern Cardinal is present in the photo’s background.

The bird in question has been coming since Oct. 19 to a feeder at the home of Howard and Faye Guinn, who live near Jonesborough. Faye and I have corresponded by email about her hummingbird, which has already weathered a couple of snowstorms.

“I was delighted to have a late hummingbird but never expected him to stay this long,” Faye wrote.

When Susan contacted me, she said that the Guinns wanted to know if they should continue feeding the hummingbird or remove the feeder to encourage the bird to fly south.

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Photo Courtesy of Faye Guinn                           A heat lamp positioned near the feeder keeps the sugar water solution from freezing during bouts of frigid weather.

I advised Faye in my email to continue to offer the sugar water, especially since other resources are scarce. These wintering hummingbirds are not entirely dependent on feeders, but they can make the difference during prolonged bouts of freezing weather. These hummingbirds will also sip from sap wells drilled into trees by Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Hummingbirds also feed on tiny insects.

“Thanks for letting me know to keep feeding because some friends have said I should stop and he would go, but they are not birders,” Faye responded to my suggestion. “I am only backyard birder but do know a little.

The hummingbird is somewhat camera shy and the photographs Faye has managed to get have been taken from inside her home.

“Any movement outside and he is gone,” she explained. “He comes and goes very quickly. His coming and going has no schedule but in the mornings he is soon there. He looks like he is beefing up so I expect he soon will go.”

She has gone to extra effort to provide for her visiting hummingbird.

“I take the feeders down — I have two so he has a choice — about two hours after dark on the nights it is to freeze and put it back out about 6:30 with a heat lamp,” she wrote.

So far, her efforts have kept the bird healthy and content.

“I never expected him to stay this long,” she said.

When she noticed the hummingbird for the first time on Oct. 19 she saw the bird at her Mexican sage plant. Her feeder was still available at the time, too.

Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovers in front of the camera. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds typically depart the region by mid-October.

Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovers in front of the camera. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds typically depart the region by the middle of October.

Through the years, I have seen several of these seemingly out-of-place hummingbirds. Some of them remain at their host’s feeders for a brief stay of a few days or a couple of weeks, but some of these hummingbirds have extended their stay for several months, lingering throughout the winter months before eventually departing in February or March.

The big question is: are these hummingbirds truly lost and out of place? The answer, based on everything I have managed to learn, is that these hummingbirds are precisely where they want to be. For still unknown reasons, some of these western hummingbirds make a migration swing through the eastern United States.

The Rufous Hummingbird has basically become an expected winter visitor with a few reports being received each winter. I have observed Rufous Hummingbirds in many different locations, including Bristol, Blountville, Flag Pond, Elizabethton and Hampton. I have also observed Allen’s Hummingbirds in Mountain City and Johnson City. I know of records of these small birds from Erwin, Roan Mountain, Johnson City and many other locations throughout the region.

Photo by Ryan Hagerty/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service A Ruby-throated Hummingbird is held with its wings spread during a study at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama.

Photo by Ryan Hagerty/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
A Ruby-throated Hummingbird is held with its wings spread during a study at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama.

Mark Armstong, who works at the Knoxville Zoo, has banded many of the western hummingbirds that migrate into the region on an annual basis.

I have continued to correspond with Faye, who confirmed that the bird has remained resident throughout November. As of Dec. 7, the hummingbird was still visiting the feeders at the Guinn residence.

Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service A Rufous Hummingbird perches on a flowering vine.

Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
A Rufous Hummingbird perches on a flowering vine. This hummingbird nests as far north as Alaska.

Bob Sargent leaves behind legacy of decades of hummingbird research

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                                                                                        Bob Sargent works diligently to band a Rufous Hummingbird at the home of Gary and Brenda Wallace in Elizabethton, Tenn.

I was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Bob Sargent. With his wife, Martha, Bob was the co-founder of the The Hummer/Bird Study Group. This non-profit organization founded by the Sargents was based in their hometown of Clay, Alabama, and dedicated to the study and preservation of hummingbirds and other neotropical migrants.

Their research programs with hummingbirds and migrating songbirds got underway back in 1987. The HBSG was formed in 1994. The Sargents have described the HBSG as a child born of the necessity to support their continuing research.

Photo by Bryan Stevens A Rufous Hummingbird gets a sip of sugar water midway through the banding process.


Photo by Bryan Stevens                                                                                  A Rufous Hummingbird gets a sip of sugar water midway through the banding process.

It was also a way to reward those who contributed financially to that effort. In the early days the Sargents’ savings account paid the expenses incurred by the HBSG. Many friends and bird conservationists contributed financially to the cause, and the Sargents wanted these donations to be tax-deductible.

The Sargent also became ambassadors in the promotion of hummingbirds. Their specialty became those species of western hummingbirds that have been gradually shifting their migration routes and wintering grounds to include forays into the eastern half of the United States.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                                                                            Martha Sargent takes a photo as her husband, Bob, lets Brenda Wallace hold a Rufous Hummingbird ready to be released after the banding process.

In the late 1990s, the Sargents presented a well-attended program sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club. That was the first occasion I had to meet this energetic and dedicated couple. I wrote about the fascinating program in my bird column and shared with readers Bob’s emphasis on keeping sugar water feeders available during the winter months. It was an eye-opening program that tuned me into the phenomenon of wintering hummingbirds.

Not too long after that column ran, I received a call from Bennette Rowan, an artist and Johnson City resident, in November of 1997. She had one of those western hummingbirds at her feeder. After she got in touch with me, the Sargents were also alerted. The couple arrived in Johnson City on Dec. 3, 1997, to band and identify the bird. To the surprise and delight of everyone present, the bird turned out to be an Allen’s hummingbird — the first of its kind ever found in Northeast Tennessee and only the fourth for the entire state. Bennette, who had orginally named her bird “Rusty,” modified the name to Rusty-Allen. The bird remained at her home until Dec. 16 of that year.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens                                                                                                       From left: Bob Sargent, Brenda Wallace, Martha Sargent and Gary Wallace pose for a photo after the Sargents successfully banded a Rufous Hummingbird at the Elizabethton home of the Wallaces.

A few years later I got to watch the Sargents band another hummingbird at the home of Brenda and Gary Wallace in Elizabethton. On that occasion, I also photographed the couple as they went expertly about the precise job of capturing, documenting, identifying and banding the hummingbird. It turned out to be a female Rufous hummingbird.

As more of these reports arrived every late fall and early winter, the Sargents became overwhelmed and could not respond to each and every case. They began to bring other hummingbird banders under their wing, so to speak. Individuals such as Chris Sloan and Mark Armstrong became principally involved with the documentation and banding of hummingbirds found within the Volunteer State.

I feel extremely fortunate to have known Bob Sargent, who died Sept. 7, 2014, at the age of 77.  An electrician by trade, he leaves a lasting legacy of more than a quarter-century of research into the mysteries of some of our tiniest birds.

Several birders across Tennessee posted tributes to Bob on the TN-Birds list-serve forum.

Cyndi Routledge of Montgomery County described him as a “dear friend and mentor” who “positively impacted my life in infinite ways as he did with endless others. He leaves a legacy of hummingbird banders and hummingbird lovers across the United States and even beyond its borders.”

She also made a suggestion to those reading her post.

“And perhaps at some point today, go outside, sit near your hummingbird feeders, listen for the hums and chirps of those tiny miracles and give thanks for Bob, for his life and for those birds,” she wrote in her post.

Jud Johnston of Waynesboro, Tennessee, commented on Bob’s death. “A great loss for birders and birding in the Southeast,” Jud wrote.

In the years since I saw that program, presented in such educational and entertaining fashion by Bob and Martha Sargent, hardly a year has gone by when a reader hasn’t alerted me to the presence of one of those “brown hummingbirds” that show up at their feeders when the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have already flown south for the winter season.

In the next couple of weeks, the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that have made our spring, summer and fall so delightful will once again disappear. They’ll return in about six to seven months, but our lives will be a bleaker without them.

This is where things can get interesting. Don’t take down your feeders. Keep a supply of sugar water available as “bait” to attract any Rufous Hummingbirds, or even Allen’s or Black-chinned Hummingbirds that might decide to spend late fall and early winter with you.

So, be very attentive to any hummingbird that arrives at your feeders in late October or early November. Most Ruby-throated Hummingbirds depart the region in early October. Many of these winter-visiting hummingbirds show a great amount of brown plumage instead of the usual green. Any of these conditions may indicate you’ve been gifted with a rare visit from one of these exceptional little birds. If you are so fortunate, please send me an email at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/Dave Menke The Rufous Hummingbird is increasingly becoming a migrant/winter resident in the eastern United States.

Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/Dave Menke
The Rufous Hummingbird is increasingly becoming a migrant/winter resident in the eastern United States.