Subject: No Rufous Hummers in Federal Way
Date: Dec 14 09:52:24 1999
From: Steven Kimball - sdkimball at earthlink.net


Tweets,

I'm sorry to have created a stir yesterday with my announcement of Rufous
Hummingbirds at my feeder in Federal Way. I do have two birds, both female,
but, after several more observations of them, I am now convinced that they
are Anna's.

What mislead me (besides my own ignorance) was the erroneous range map for
the Anna's in the Stokes Field Guide to Birds (Western Region) (1st edition)
which shows the Anna's range ending in southern Oregon. I just assumed
after a cursory observation of the birds in my yard that they were late
appearing Rufous Hummingbirds as the Stokes Guide (correctly) shows this
area as part of their summer range.

Thanks to Mike Patterson who was the first person to alert me to the fact
that the presence of a Rufous Hummingbird in my yard at this date was an
extremely unlikely event.

Sorry to have got people so excited over nothing.

Steve Kimball
Federal Way, WA
sdkimball at earthlink.net