Subject: [Tweeters] Birds of the week, Anna's Hummingbird and Arctic Tern,
Date: Apr 1 17:59:14 2006
From: Kelly Cassidy - lostriver at completebbs.com


The Birds of the Week for 2-April-2006.

Last week's BOTW (American Wigeon and Ancient Murrelet) generated few tales.
Perhaps these two wildly different species will stimulate a few more
memories.

Anna's Hummingbird: A recent immigrant to the Pacific Northwest and the only
hummingbird in Washington that stays all winter.

Arctic Tern: I knew little about this bird, so I googled it. Its claim to
fame is that it has the longest migration of any bird. (A bit of trivia I
didn't know.) Many breed in the Arctic tundra and "winter" (the northern
hemisphere winter) at the edge of the Antarctic ice pack. Washington had
the distinction of having the southernmost nesting Arctic Terns near
Everett, but that colony is apparently gone. Now, you are most likely to
see them during migration in an offshore boating trip.

Dr. Kelly Cassidy
Curator, Conner Vertebrate Museum
Washington State University, Pullman, WA