Last January 13, Fred Dietrich, a hummingbird bander, put a numbered band on a Rufous Hummingbird that was coming to a feeder at a home in Tallahassee Florida. Fred determined that it was a second year female, meaning it had been hatched the previous summer. Fast forward to June 28. In Chenega Bay Alaska, Kate McLaughlin caught a Rufous Hummingbird with someone else's band on it. Yep, you guessed it - it was Fred's bird from Florida! This little hummingbird was nesting nearly 4,000 miles from where she spent the winter. Wow! Rufous Hummingbirds (along with several other species) commonly spend their winter in the southeastern U.S. including Texas. This recovery is significant as the longest distance between capture sites but also because it gives us information about migration routes of these birds. Without banding, we would never know these things. Leave your hummingbird feeder up this winter and see if you get a special winter visitor.
This is backdated; I'd have posted it when I got it, but I've been monitoring (you guessed it!) banded birds in west Texas!
Another fantastic blog post about this record is at burdr.com - check it out!
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