Subject: [Tweeters] Status Of Ruby-throated Hummingbird In Washington
Date: Aug 18 16:09:36 2016
From: Dennis Paulson - dennispaulson at comcast.net


Hi, Vincent.

?Twas me. I was leading a group on a field trip for a Cooper Ornithological Society meeting, and we were looking at birds at the edge of a clearing with conifers all around. Tooting like a pygmy-owl brought in a hummingbird with a green back and crown, red throat, and nicely forked tail, and I finally had the temerity to call it a Ruby-throated. No one had a camera with a telephoto lens (that would never happen to me again). As skeptical as I am of sight records, I submitted a report to the Bird Record Committee (of which I was a member). I think everyone believed me, at least to my face. The bird was seen by numerous bird-savvy observers, and all agreed on the field marks. I couldn?t find any other reasonable possibilities in the hummingbirds of North America.

The record was published in an written up by Bill Tweit and Jeff Skriletz.

Dennis Paulson
Seattle, WA

On Aug 18, 2016, at 12:00 PM, tweeters-request at mailman1.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2016 14:44:22 -0700
> From: Vincent Lucas <vincentlucas5 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Status Of Ruby-throated Hummingbird In Washington
> To: TWEETERS <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Message-ID:
> <CAHAJL-5UZGLtFod5DYqgGJcqchBujyvm9o4fTa+TwJG=3MmHUQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Tweeters:
>
> This photo of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird on the Seattle Audubon Society's
> Facebook page is remarkable if, in fact, it was taken in WA. However, that
> is totally unclear because there is no data associated with it. So, what is
> the status of RTHU in WA? According to __ The Birds of Washington, Status
> And distribution __ (2005) by Wahl et al, there is only one "sight record"
> for it of a male seen in Liberty, Kittitas County, on June 28, 1992 by
> Tweit and Skriletz). Hmm. Sight record? Sheri Williamson, author of the
> __ A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America __, states the following
> (personal communication): " ... 6/28/92, Kittias Co., e. slope of Cascades,
> 4000'. Comment field says "could be 1st WA record [not accepted?]" And,
> "nothing newer than that, though I've got one from northern OR in 2006 and
> a 2008 record from Vancouver Is."
>
> So my questions are these. 1) How can a record be accepted by the WBRC
> based on solely a "sight record" with no other documentation? 2) Can anyone
> find out if and where in WA the RTHU in the photo on the Seattle Audubon
> Society's Facebook page was taken? If documented that it was taken in WA,
> then that would solidify RTHU as being a legitimate species albeit, a
> vagrant, in WA.
>
> Here is the link to the Seattle Audubon Society's Facebook page. I realise
> that not everyone may be able to view it is you are not a member of FB.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/halxole
> --
> Vincent Lucas
> Port Angeles, WA