[obol] 09/20/06 - FW Re: Ruby-throated Hummingbird

[AVITOURS at aol.com]

Birders - 
Here is an e-mail forwarded from  Aaron Skirvin to OBOL. 
Many of you who read OBOL are  probably wondering about the sighting and 
current status of the Ruby-throated  Hummingbird that was observed at my house 
near Pendleton, Umatilla  County, Oregon, over the past weekend.  I live about 5 
miles  south of Pendleton between Hwy 395 and McKay Reservoir.  I’ve lived 
here  for 15 years and each year put up one or two hummingbird feeders in early 
April  just as the first Rufous and Calliope Hummingbirds pass through the 
area.   Starting in mid- to late April, the first Black-chinned Hummingbirds 
arrive from  their wintering areas.  Black-chinneds are the only hummingbirds that 
breed  in the immediate vicinity of Pendleton, and I have a few males and 
females at my  feeders all summer.  By mid-August, hummingbird numbers drop off, 
but I  often see a few birds at my feeders until mid- to late September (latest 
date  was a juvenile Rufous on September 25, 2002).  There are no records of  
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds for Umatilla County, and I had never seen one 
prior to the male that  visited my feeder last week. 
Current Status of the Pendleton  Ruby-throated Hummingbird 
I first saw the Ruby-throated  Hummingbird at my feeder on the evening of 
Thursday, Sept. 14 (see details  below).  The bird was seen sporadically by 
others from Friday thru  Sunday.  It was not seen Monday or Tuesday (Sept. 19). I 
watched the feeder  from about 4:45 p.m. until dark this evening (Tuesday), but 
I did not see it or  any other hummingbird. So, apparently, it has left.  I 
still have the  feeder up and have refilled it with fresh syrup.  If the 
Ruby-throated  Hummingbird returns, I will immediately post on OBOL the details of 
the new  sighting and give directions on how to find my house. 
Original  Sighting 
Although I have male Black-chinned  Hummingbirds at my feeders each summer, 
they leave the area by the middle of  August, and after that I see only females 
or juveniles (Black-chinned, Rufous,  and Calliope) until they all leave in 
September. About 4 p.m. this past Thursday  afternoon (Sept. 14), I looked out 
the kitchen window and did a double-take as I  saw what appeared to be a male 
hummingbird, with a reddish throat, fly away from  the feeder, which is 
located just a few feet from the window. It landed in the  lilac bush across the 
yard (50 feet away) and sat there for several minutes,  partly in the sun and 
partly in the shade.  Occasionally it would turn its  head and I could see a 
flash of iridescent red on its throat.  Having  confirmed that it was a male 
hummingbird with a red throat and apparently  greenish back, I began to try to turn 
it into an Anna’s Hummingbird (an  extremely rare species in Umatilla County, 
but more likely than a Ruby-throated). And,  frankly, at this time, I hadn’t 
even considered Ruby-throated Hummingbird as a  possibility.  
The only problem with labelling it  an Anna’s was that it didn’t appear to 
have a red forehead or crown, but the  lighting was such that I wasn’t 
completely sure.  I called June Whitten and asked her to come over to look at the  
bird.  She arrived in a few minutes, and the bird was still perched in the  bush. 
We determined after a few minutes of watching it perch and periodically  fly 
to the feeder that it definitely had a red throat, greenish top of head,  
green back, bright green side of the head above the eye, whitish band on the  
upper breast, and a small white spot behind the eye.  It flew to the feeder  
several times, which was in the shadows under the eave of the house.  We  got good 
looks at the silhouette profile as it fed about 8 feet away. The  profile 
strongly resembled Black-chinned Hummingbird that we are so familiar  with here.  
After feeding, the hummingbird consistently flew back to the  same perch in 
the lilac bush. One time, it perched for several minutes with its  back to us 
and slightly turned to the right, and we could see a deeply notched,  solid dark 
gray or blackish tail. By now, we were starting to consider that the  bird 
was probably a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  
At about 5 p.m., the bird came to  the feeder a final time, and as June and I 
were looking through a bird field  guide, the hummingbird disappeared from 
the yard.  June left to attend a  function (prior commitment) at the Pendleton 
Round-Up, and I set up a lawn chair  where I could see the feeder and the 
hummingbird’s favorite perch in the lilac  bush and waited for the bird to return. 
Unfortunately, I didn’t see it again  that evening. 
Later that evening, I sent an email  to several local birders, letting them 
know about the probable Ruby-throated  Hummingbird that June and I had seen in 
my yard.   
On Friday morning, the hummingbird  showed up at my feeder a little after 7 
a.m., as I was finishing packing for the  weekend trip to Malheur NWR with 9 
other Pendleton Bird Club members.  As  the hummingbird ate at the feeder, I 
watched it through the kitchen window and  looked for the black chin, a field 
mark for male Ruby-throated Hummingbird. The  lighting was so poor (overcast 
skies and back lighting) that I couldn’t discern  the color of the chin. But, I 
saw the flash of red on the throat and got  close-up looks at the all dark, 
deeply notched tail and was convinced that it  was a male Ruby-throated 
Hummingbird. I called Dave Herr at his office in Pendleton and  invited him to come out 
to my house as soon as he could to photograph the  hummingbird. The bird 
continued to feed periodically for about 15 – 20 minutes,  then it left and I didn’
t see it again.   
Our club members, who were  travelling to Malheur, began arriving at my house 
a little before 8 a.m., and  Bob Tapley brought along his new video camera.  
I told Bob and the others  about the Ruby-throated Hummingbird and asked Bob 
to check out the feeder at the  back of the house and photograph the 
hummingbird if it came to the feeder. Since  I hadn’t seen the bird for the last 45 
minutes, I thought that it had left the  yard and we probably wouldn’t see it 
before we departed for Malheur. As the rest  of us packed our gear in the 
vehicles, Bob returned in about 5 minutes and said,  “Well, I got it!” With that 
announcement, we all rushed to the back yard, but  the bird was gone.  We stood 
there watching the feeder for a couple of  minutes when finally someone spotted 
the hummer perched in the elderberry bush  about 25 feet away at the edge of 
the yard.  It perched there for a few  minutes in full view, but backlit.  We 
saw the all dark, deeply notched  tail, and as it turned its head once, 
everyone saw the flash of bright,  iridescent red on the throat.  Bob got some more 
video footage of the bird.  Then we departed for Malheur NWR. 
At Malheur Friday afternoon, we saw  Alan Contreras and Daniel Farrar and 
told them about the Ruby-throated  Hummingbird.  Later that evening, all of us 
looked at the video (on Alan’s  computer) that Bob Tapley had taken of the 
hummingbird. When Bob took the video,  lighting conditions were a little difficult, 
but there appeared to be enough  photographic evidence to verify the record 
of Ruby-throated Hummingbird. I think  the first report of the sighting of a 
probable Ruby-throated Hummingbird near  Pendleton made it on OBOL Friday night. 
On Saturday, Trent Bray photographed the  hummingbird, and Dave Herr saw it.  
A few more birders saw it on Sunday  and more photos were taken of the bird. 
According to most people who saw the  bird (no everone saw it) reported that 
it very infrequently visited the feeder.  Everyone who has seen the bird 
concurs that it is a male Ruby-throated  Hummingbird. I don’t have any photos of my 
own, but there are several diagnostic  photos and/or video clips. No one saw 
the bird on Monday. I returned home from  Malheur about 6:15 p.m. on Monday 
evening and did not see the bird. Several  people watched my feeder for a few 
hours this morning (Tuesday), but no one saw  the hummingbird.  I kept watch this 
evening, but the Ruby-throated  Hummingbird did not make an appearance. 
In the next few days, I will send a  report of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird 
sighting to the Oregon Bird Records  Committee for their review and 
consideration. 
Aaron Skirvin 
Pendleton, Oregon
 
The Bobolink - Linking Birders &  Birds

1102 Washington Ave.
La Grande, OR 97850
(541) 963 -  2888
avitours at aol.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/private/obol/attachments/20060920/92b1d880/attachment.html