** Dennis Paulson writes -

<snip>
> There's a Xantus' Hummingbird in BC. Wild bird? I guess many hundreds of
> people are making that assumption (or maybe not, in some cases)! It's not
> kept in captivity as far as we know, yet the science/art of keeping
> hummingbirds alive and healthy in captivity is quite well developed. What's
> the probability of it reaching here on its own? What's the probability that
> someone in that area had been keeping one in captivity, or brought it back
> in a suitcase from a recent trip to Baja? Even if one probability is higher
> than the other, they're only probabilities, not facts.
<snip>

Sure, all true. However, the fact that Hurricane Nora crossed the heart of the
Xantus' range Sep. 24-25 packing 60-80 knot easterly winds suggests that there
might have been at least an initial weather-related impetus to its vagrancy. In
fact it is not at all fanciful to posit that the bird was blown out to sea off
the west coast of Baja. Two possible scenarios then present themselves:

1) the bird flies well north and runs into ship traffic (which would have
diverted well north of the hurricane track) and lands on a ship for a ride
of unknown duration;
2) the bird found its way back to shore and worked its way up the coast to
B.C. under its own power.

Why would a bird not known for vagrancy decide to head north? Well, what are the
chances that hurricane-blown detritus smacked into the bird, rendering its innate
tendencies null and void?

Of course, there could be some deranged birder out there travelling to exotic
places and smuggling birds to unlikely places then releasing them just to spite
local records committees. Which one sounds more plausible to you?

- Jack







Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
Canada
jbowling at direct.ca