hello tweets.

this might be interesting ... thought i'd share!

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
<><><>Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!<><><>


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: Re: RFI: Color-marked Hummingbirds

"BILL HILTON JR (BILL HILTON JR.)" wrote:

> REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON SIGHTINGS OF COLOR-MARKED RUBY-THROATED
> HUMMINGBIRDS
>
> (Please forward this posting to other appropriate lists to which
> you may subscribe.)
>
> Fall migration of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris)
> is under way in the northcentral Piedmont of South Carolina. I have
> been banding hummingbirds here at Hilton Pond near York SC (just
> south and west
> of Charlotte NC) since 1984. Although the Piedmont seems NOT to be a
> hummingbird migrational pathway or staging area, through 20 September
> 1999, I have still managed to capture and band 2,004 RTHU, and have
> retrapped many RTHU in subsequent years after banding.
>
> To minimize recapture of banded hummingbirds in my pull-string traps,
> I am authorized by the federal Bird Banding Lab to mark each bird
> from York with non-toxic GREEN dye on the upper breast and throat.
> (In fact, I
> use a so-called "permanent" felt-tip marker, but the dye wears or
> washes off within a month or so.) In early August I also banded RTHU
> at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pennsylvania, using BLUE dye.
>
> Because we know little about actual overland migrational pathways for
> hummingbirds, I would appreciate hearing about any sightings you may
> have of color-marked hummingbirds during migration this spring and
> fall.
>
> Color-marking of hummingbirds here at Hilton Pond paid off in October
> 1991 when a woman in Atlanta saw an "unusual" hummingbird with a
> green throat and called Bob Sargent, a fellow hummingbird bander from
> Alabama. Bob drove to Atlanta, trapped the bird, and after reading
> the band number learned I had banded it in South Carolina. This, to
> the best of our knowledge, was the first report of a banded
> Ruby-throated Hummingbird to be recaptured and released away from its
> original banding site.
>
> In FAll 1997, a woman in Louisiana, sighted another "green-throated"
> hummingbird that was likely a RTHU banded here in York; this sighting
> further supports the idea that at least some East Coast RTHU migrate
> not to south Florida but to the Texas Gulf Coast before a trans-Gulf
> or Mexican overland crossing. This bird may also have been the first
> "long-distance" sighting of a marked RTHU.
>
> If you see a color-marked hummer, do not attempt to trap it (it's
> against federal law to do so unless you have a special permit), but
> please contact me at my personal e-mail address below (I'm not
> currently subscribed to BIRDCHAT or HUMNET) or at my home phone. If
> you find a dead banded bird, read the band number and also contact
> the Bird Banding Lab at 1-800-327-BAND or via their reporting website
> page at
> http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/homepage/recwbnd.htm.
>
> Thanks for any help you can provide in taking close looks at
> hummingbirds at your feeders during the fall of 1999 and again next
> spring.
>
> Bill Hilton Jr.
> (Master Banding Permit #21558)
>
> ***********
>
>
> BILL HILTON JR.
> "The Piedmont Naturalist"
> Hilton Pond
> 1432 DeVinney Road
> York, South Carolina 29745
> USA
>
> Consultant and speaker on science education, teacher training, and
> natural history
>
> voice: (803) 684-5852
> fax: (803) 684-5852 (call first)
> e-mail: bhilton at infoave.net
>
> "Never trust a person too lazy to get up for sunrise or too busy to
> watch the sunset."