Cascadia Hummingbird Report - 04/07/2003

Hummingbird movement may be stalled. It's been cold and rainy
for most of the week with a snow level hovering between 3000 and
5000 ft in the Cascades. This weather is likely to stay around
through next week according to forecasts.

Many observers west of the Cascades have been reporting that numbers
at feeders seem much higher than in past years, especially evident
at dusk when multiple hummingbirds are using feeders together. My
feeder has also been much busier than I'm used to for this time of
year. Perhaps this is evidence of the possible migration stall.

Also unusual, the resident Anna's male at my feeder hasn't been run
off by Rufous males. I don't know what that means.

Port Angeles, WA 03-16-2003 75 48.1123 123.4399
Corning, CA 03-28-2003 87 39.9263 122.1820
Maple Falls, WA 03-29-2003 88 48.9244 122.0770
Duncan, BC 03-30-2003 89 48.7972 123.7000
Port Townsend, WA 03-30-2003 89 48.1220 122.7792
Dupont, WA 03-31-2003 90 47.1068 122.6531
Yelm, WA 04-01-2003 91 46.9457 122.6035
Artesia, NM 04-03-2003 93 32.8475 104.4297

I other hummingbird news, an early CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD arrived
in Sisters, OR on Mar 31 (previous earliest for this location
Apr 4). Of course, Sisters is east of the Cascades and at 3100ft,
so this raises the question, if Calliope's can handle the Cascades
in the snow, why not Rufous?

To follow along with the hummingbird migration for 2003 and report
hummingbird arrivals in your area, visit:
http://home.pacifier.com/~neawanna/humm/count.html

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

A child who becomes acquainted with the birds about him
hears every sound and puzzles out its meaning with a cleverness
that amazes those with ears who hear not.

-Neltje Blanchan

http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html