At 09:40 PM 9/3/96 -0700, Peggi Rodgers wrote:
>Has anyone else noticed a sudden decrease in Rufus-sided hummers lately? It
>seems to me they're leaving a bit earlier this year. Mine have been gone
>for a week.

Peggi,

We've enjoyed lots of Rufous and Calliope hummers here in western
Colorado this year. Beginning in July when the first migrant Rufous began
showing up, hummer numbers just skyrocketed. When we left for a trip to the
Northwest on August 16th, all eleven of our 30-ounce hummingbird feeders
were full. A friend came over and filled them all twice, and when we
returned on the 25th, they were all empty, with few hummers around. Two
days later, we had lots of birds again, but nearly all adult males are gone.
This has been a banner year for migrating Rufous here, now perhaps 40% are
female/immature Rufous.

Interestingly, on our trip through Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington,
and B.C., we saw only one hummer, a female Rufous on the Oregon coast. I
expect the extremely dry conditions may have reduced the food resources
available and have pushed the migrating Rufous and Calliope hummingbirds
widely east again this year, perhaps earlier than usual. It will be
interesting to see if Calliopes show up again in Minnesota, Nebraska,
Kansas, and Oklahoma as they did during the drought in 1994. Calliope
occurrences there, as in Colorado, are relatively rare. (I've heard that
there have been six Calliopes seen in Garden City, Kansas this year, a bird
which was new to the state list in 1994). In contrast, a wide eastward
dispersal of Rufous is common, but they're increasingly being seen in the
southeast and even in the northeast.

Steve Bouricius
Palisade, Colorado
bourici at gj.net