Hi Mike and Tweeters,

What is a hummingbird lek? I have heard of grouse
lek's but not hummingbird ones. I assume a lot of
male birds are involved and the female chooses from
the bunch. When is it active there? I might be
interested in going to observe. Thanks.

Kathy

Kathy Andrich
Roosting in Kent
chukarbird at yahoo.com


--- Mike Patterson <celata at pacifier.com> wrote:
> I keep forgetting that the majority of birders
> probably
> don't remember a time when Anna's Hummingbird was
> rare
> in Oregon and Washington (or when you could do a
> coastal
> Christmas Count and miss starling). The first
> Anna's
> Hummingbirds in Portland were found in 1965 and the
> first
> in Seattle were in winter 64-65. Breeding was not
> confirmed
> in Oregon until 1981 (though they were almost
> certainly doing
> so prior to 1981).
>
> It's unlikely that a BBS would have even had a
> chance to
> pick up Anna's Hummingbirds on a BBS north of
> Douglas Co.,
> Oregon were it nests open poison oak savannah and
> residential
> areas before the mid-80's. The nesting sites here
> in Clatsop Co.
> (which were identified in the late 90's) are in a
> residential
> holly tree and an open salal covered hillside. Most
> BBS routes
> just don't go through good Anna's Hummingbird
> breeding habitat.
> My BBS route from northern Coast Range to the
> Columbia River
> which I've been doing since 1990 averages 7.3 +/-
> 2.6(SD).
> I still haven't recorded an Anna's.
>
> There have been no Anna's recorded anywhere near the
> Rufous
> lek at the Neawanna in Seaside and Rufous and Anna's
> do not
> appear to share breeding habitat preferences
> generally. The
> only place where competition is likely to occur is
> at hummingbird
> feeders and the Anna's at my feeder make themselves
> scarce when
> the very aggressive Rufous Hummingbirds show up in
> March.
>
> Anyway, knowing that there just weren't enough
> Anna's Hummingbirds
> in Oregon and Washington prior to say 1990 to
> explain any decline
> in Rufous Hummingbirds through a significant chunk
> of the BBS trend
> data and given that the two species do not have the
> same habitat
> preferences during the breeding season (and that
> Anna's don't even
> appear in most of the breeding range of Rufous
> Humingbird), it seems
> unlikely that Anna's Hummingbird is in anyway
> responsible for any
> decline in Rufous Hummingbird.
>
> So, we're left with general habitat degradation.
>
> References
> Marshall, D.B., M.G.Hunter, and A.L.Contreras, Eds.
> 2003 Birds
> of Oregon: a general reference. OSU Press.
>
> Zimmerman, D.A. 1973. Range expansion of Anna's
> Hummingbird.
> American Birds 27(5)827-835.
>
> --
> Mike Patterson
> Astoria, OR
> celata at pacifier.com
>
> Half-a-bee, philosophically must ipso-facto half
> not-be.
> But half the bee, has got to bee Vis-a-vis its
> entity...
> d'you see?
> But can a bee be said to be or not to be an entire
> bee
> When half the bee is not a bee due to some ancient
> injury?
> -Monty Python
>
>
> http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html


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