Given that it is a "female". I would guess that
it has over-wintered.

I put female in quotes, because it could be a female
or it could be a 1st-winter male which would look
quite a bith like a female. Some 1st-winter males may not
develop fully red gorgets until late February or March.
They would, however, have much streakier looking throats
and quite a bit of red in the back.

The untested assumption is that 2nd-year males migrate
later than older males.

Bruce McKenzie wrote:
>
> I was about to report an early Rufous Hummingbird sighting and found the
> message from Mike asking us to look out for them.
>
> A female Rufous Hummingbird was "collecting" insects from our Vine Maple
> tree at 10:30AM this morning. This is a full month earlier than we have seen
> a Rufous in our yard over the ten years we've lived here.
>
> I should note that it is possible this is an over-wintering Rufous. We live
> in a ravine above Lake Washington. We discovered shortly after moving here
> that Anna's Hummingbirds routinely over-winter down by the lake but for some
> reason rarely come up the ravine, no matter what the season. This winter for
> some reason the Anna's are making daily trips up the ravine and through our
> yard. The Vine Maple is a popular spot and gets rather interesting when the
> Bushtits, Chickadees, and Hummingbirds all arrive at the same time. The
> female Rufous arrived (alone) today about twenty minutes after the Anna's
> had passed through the area.
>
> Bruce McKenzie
> Kenmore, WA USA
> mailto:bmsh.mckenzie at gte.net
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Patterson" <celata at pacifier.com>
> To: "tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 18:26
> Subject: Re: Rufous Hummingbirds migration
>
> >
> > Even without el Ni?o Rufous Hummingbirds regularly arrive
> > in southern Oregon in the first week of February.
> >
> >

--
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