The Rufous Hummingbird, which has been regularly seen at our feeders on Powell Road since Oct 3, was last seen on Thursday November 15. Between Oct 3 and Oct 16 I posted a couple of times that we still had a hummingbird, and usually got a query or two about whether it was possibly a Rufous. I dutifully replied that it looked like a female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird to me.
Finally on the 16th I posted that I got a better look and it appeared to have some rusty color on its side. Jay McGowan immediately contacted me about coming out the next morning. He and two others were here at 7:30am on October 17 and confirmed, with only a small amount of doubt, that it was a female Rufous Hummingbird. They left a small chance that it might be an Allen's. Jay's photos https://picasaweb.google.com/111137855303614931880/Fall2012#5800340256025985554 were terrific and showed the rufous color on the sides and the spread tail, even noting the width of the tail feathers, further confirming the specie. His posting to eBird provided additional description http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11818250. Chances are this was the same bird observed by Naomi Brewer on September 16 at her home just north of Sheldrake Point, which is about 3 miles north of our home on Powell Rd in the Town of Covert. Jay's confirmation of the sighting was followed by a parade of birdwatchers, many of whom contacted me before and/or afterward about stopping by. Since the bird was confirmed a Rufous on the 17th, it has been seen by us or other visiting birders almost every day. In addition to Cayuga Basin birders, visitors have come from Elmira, Binghamton, Canandaigua, and Genesee County, and probably other areas that I've forgotten or didn't even hear about. On Sunday, November 4, birdbanders Bob Yunick, of Schenectady, NY and Bob Pantle of Candor, were joined by Anne Cooke, a birdbander-in-training, and came to our house to band the Rufous Hummingbird. Bob Yunick has banded many hummingbirds including many late season Rufous Hummingbirds in the northeast. From measurements and feather shapes Bob Yunick confirmed that this hummer was a hatching-year female Rufous Hummingbird. On November 22 of last year he banded an immature female Rufous in East Arlington, VT and that bird continued to visit the feeder until January 17. During that time, temperatures often went below freezing and indeed several times below 0oF. The last day it was seen temperatures reached -8oF. Bob Yunick published this in North American Bird Bander 37(1): 18-21 (2012). Subsequent to meeting with Bob Yunick, he forwarded me contact info for Bob Sargent, a hummingbird expert in Alabama http://www.hummingbirdsplus.org/ . (Is everyone who is interested in hummingbirds named Bob?) Bob Sargent provided suggestions on how others have succeeded in keeping hummingbird feeders from freezing when the temperatures dropped below freezing. It didn't turn out to be necessary to put a heat lamp on the feeder to keep from freezing, but on quite a few occasions, I brought in the feeder at night to keep it from freezing and put it out early the next morning. It had also been suggested that I add amino acids to the sugar water solution. I didn't go down that road, but I did begin scheming how to provide insects, inquiring among some entomologists to see if anyone might have insects that I could feed to the hummer. Flightless fruit flies were suggested. Given the relatively mild temperatures over the last several weeks, I instead captured some fruit flies in our house and stored them in the refrigerator. The idea was to put them outside near the nectar feeder on a cold day, providing some protein for the hummer, when it might be hard for it to otherwise find insects. That too became unnecessary, as we had below freezing nights, but above freezing days meant that the hummer was able to find insects themselves. Indeed, we observed the Rufous Hummingbird hawking insects as well as searching window corners for insects and spiders. The hummer also was regularly seen perching in the apple trees near the feeder. It's quite possible that insects were to be found around the remaining aging fruit. We feel incredibly fortunate to have hosted this visitor from the western part of the US for more than a month. And we were glad to share views of this rarity with many area birders. Perhaps the lesson to all of us is to keep our hummingbird feeders up well after we think our lone specie, the Ruby-throated, has headed to warmer climes for the season. Marty Schlabach Mary Jean Welser ====================================== Marty Schlabach m...@cornell.edu 8407 Powell Rd. home 607-532-3467 Interlaken, NY 14847 cell 315-521-4315 ====================================== -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
