Cascadia Hummingbird Report 02/24/2003

Over the week several reports came in from the Puget Sound in Washington
and coastal British Columbia. Inland valley reports are also picking up
with first detections from Merlin, Salem, Portland and Vancouver, WA. Many
observers have noted that these are earlier detections than previous years
by 5-10 days.

Maury Island, WA 02-14-2003 45 47.2238 122.2543
Nanaimo, BC 02-17-2003 48 49.1667 123.9333
Miller Canyon, AZ 02-18-2003 49 31.4383 110.0972
Portland, OR 02-18-2003 49 45.5115 122.5985
S. Salem, OR 02-19-2003 50 44.8977 123.0437
Vancouver, WA 02-19-2003 50 45.6222 122.4481
Merlin, OR 02-20-2003 51 42.4919 123.3367
Pender Island, BC 02-20-2003 51 48.7806 123.2806
Ash Canyon, AZ 02-20-2003 51 31.3819 110.2244
Richmond Beach, WA 02-22-2003 53 47.7697 122.3889
Castle Rock, WA 02-22-2003 53 46.2814 122.9054
Olympia, WA 02-22-2003 53 47.0419 122.8938
Yuma, AZ 02-22-2003 53 32.6775 114.6202
Astoria, OR (3) 02-23-2003 54 46.1777 123.8256

If you're a West Coast hummingbird bander looking for more data to collect,
I went through my data on quantifying the amount of green on the backs of
Rufous Hummingbirds and found that very red-backed individuals appear to
arrive earlier than very green-backed birds. It is generally believed
that green-backed individuals are second-year birds (hatched last summer).
A scatter diagram my data from 1989-93 is available at:
http://home.pacifier.com/~neawanna/humm/gbRUHU_phen.html
Analysis of data on back-color and arrival timing from other sites is
warranted.

The recent change in the weather has slowed flower blooms at the monitoring
sites on the Columbia River. Fewer Salmonberry (_Rubus spectabilis_)
blooms
were found this week than last. Ornamental Red-flowering Currant
(_Ribes
sanguineum_) is blooming in many yards, but the wild stuff at the Shively
Park transect in Astoria hasn't even broken bud, yet.

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