Hi tweeters

3 years ago while writing a report for our local newspaper regarding our
upcoming xmas count, i urged people to leave their hummingbird feeders
out during the winter to encourage Anna's hummingbirds to colinize this
area.
Early this past December i recieved a phone call from a gentleman in
Maple Bay who said he had taken my advice and low and behold he had what
he thought was an Anna''s. I asked if it would be possible for me to
come around and confirm the sighting ,he said that it would be fine to
come the next morning as the bird was regular early in the morning. The
next morning around 8-30 am, i headed down to the house knocked on the
door and a very elderly gentlemen came to the door he informed me that
the bird was just there but had left he said that it was coming about
every 5 minutes or so, may be i would like a cup of tea, his dear wife
who was in her mid 80s was dispatched to make it. We discussed that he
was the only person that i had recieved a call from and that this would
be one of just a handfull of records for Anna's for the winter in the
Cowichan Valley. Just then his wife returned with the teapot, we sat
down and started to drink when suddenly i caught a glimpse of the bird
by the window it flew up to the feeder. Looking with just my eyes
because i'd put my bins down to drink my tea i thought this bird looks
strange, it quickly flew off mainly i guess because it had seen me. I
sat back down to finish my tea but making sure that my bins were around
my neck, i finished my tea and stood up facing the window hopeing not to
disturb the bird next time it flew in,well after what seemed an eternity
it came back i could not believe my eyes feeding right in front of me
was a Xantus's hummingbird by this time i was getting really excited and
the elderly couple asked what was wrong ,when i told them what it was
they did not no the species, so i told them about the bird in Gibsons,
they had read about the bird and about the many people that had come to
see it. This bird was an adult female and it crossed my mind what if
this bird was the one from Gibsons, i told the couple they should be
prepared for lots of people to come and see it , just then the man rose
to his feet and said i don't think that my wife and i could stand that
amount of hoopla this late in our lives ,i tried for a good hour to
convince the couple to let me spread the word but they said no and that
if anybody came around they would take the feeder down. It is impossible
to see the feeder without being in the house so what to do.
I'm sorry to say that i bowed to their wishes and did not report the
bird , i decided to keep quite never to tell anyone about the bird .
Then the controvercy blew up on tweeters i now feel compelled to tell
you about this sighting plus the fact that the bird was last seen on the
2nd of February and the couple have now taken their feeder down.
The bird was clearly a female with a buffy breast ,long rufous feathers
in the tail and the lack of a bright green throat.
What do i do, send in a written report and cause more controvercy as a
single observer sighting and suffer the ridicule of my peers or just let
it pass and say this is a lesson learnt regarding rare birds .
I will continue the rest of my birding life wondering if this was the
same bird to the one in Gibsons or another which would have put a
totally different light on the matter.
I have tried to convince the elderly couple to write a report but they
have taken advice from their son and will not have anything to do with
it.
I'm sorry to to have told you all this but i could not keep quite any
longer.

Derrick Marven
Duncan
B.C.
marvelus at cow-net.com