I forgot tot post this link when the report aired. The following is a link to the FOX News report from my yard:

 

Doreen Cubie visited the yard today and banded 6 more hummingbirds in less than an hour. All were male Ruby-throateds, 3 adult and 3 young birds. We've banded 18 hummers in the yard this year.

 

I saw a couple that have not been banded so we've had at least 20 wintering birds in the neighborhood this year. I don't think that they are all regularly using my yard but there has been enough daily activity to indicate that many of them are spending at least some of their time in my yard.

I guess I lost track of the numbers while Fred was banding the birds. I received the data cards and photos from Fred and realized my error. We actually had 4 adult males, 4 females, and 4 young birds.

 

I may have seen a banded adult male without a pink spot indicating that it could be a return bird that avoided he trap.

 

More plant destruction with last night's freeze.  Also, more activity. I'm sure there were more than one new bird in the yard today.

Fred Bassett arrived this morning around 7:15 AM. Within a little over an hour, he'd banded 12 Ruby-throateds: 2 females, 3 adult males, and 7 young males. Unfortunately, no other species or any previously banded birds.

 

All banded birds were marked with a pink dot on their heads. This allowed us to recognize an already banded bird that entered the cage a second time so that we could leave it to feed without trapping it again. It also allows me to easily recognize unbanded birds.

 

I've seen 4 more birds that were not banded this morning. Unfortunately, one of them is a young male with a broken lower mandible hanging down on it's breast. Also seen were an adult female and an adult male. The most amazing one was a young male with a large central gorget patch that has been a resident in the yard since October. I assume he's been around long enough that he knew about the feeders still hanging across the street at a neighbor's house and fed there while we banded.  

 

16 hummingbirds in the yard today. Not bad.

 

 

 

Friday, 1/8, Fred Bassett will be here to band the hummingbirds in my yard. A reporter from FOX 13 (WTVT) will also be here. I'm not sure when his report will air. I will post any information as I receive it.

 

Sunday, 1/10, Rich Crete of Rich's Backyard Birds, http://www.richsbackyardbirds.com/, will lead a group to view the birds in my yard. They will be meeting at the store at 7:00 AM.

 

Saturday, 1/23, The Hernando Audubon Society, http://www.hernandoaudubon.org/FieldTrips.html, will lead a trip, arriving at my yard around 8 AM followed by a visit to Lettuce Lake Park. 

Sunday mornings freeze, 29 degrees, has damaged many of the blooms for the hummingbirds. Luckily, it was a short enough duration that it only burnt the tips of some of the plants like the porterweeds, some of the salvias, and the protected firespikes. The Chinese Hats and the Flowering Maple appear to have been unharmed. The firebushes, Salvia miniata, and Russelia sarmentosa have been hit the hardest. More freezes are expected over the next ten days so I'm not expecting good news.

 

Luckily, I have plenty of feeders. I believe I'm seeing a number of new birds but it's hard to say how many because some of the previous regular activity appears to have changed.

 

We will be banding on Friday so hopefully more birds will show up, including more species.

 

A few goldfinches have begun showing up in the yard along with the large flock of chipping Sparrows. I've still not seen the Clay-colored Sparrow since mid-December. Robins and Cedar Waxwings have been seen flying over the yard over the past week. A small group of Brown-headed Cowbirds was in the yard one day last week and a couple of female Red-winged Blackbirds have been regulars for about a week.

 

 

This report is long overdue. Activity picked up around Thanksgiving. I've had at least 8 regular birds since then. I'm still just seeing Ruby-throateds. The Rufuos never returned and I haven't seen any others. I'm keeping optimistic though with the knowledge that many "new" Rufous and Black-chinneds are first reported during December and January after the first frost.

 

The loss of two and a half trees next door may result in fewer territories in the yard this year. I'm doing everything I can to compensate for the loss by supplying additional feeders. I'm currently maintaining 14 feeders.

 

I'm currently seeing one first winter Clay-colored Sparrow regularly at my seed feeders.

I can usually see or hear a hummingbird in the yard but in general there is very little activity. It appears as though there are three or four birds regularly in the yard, a couple of adult males, one or two young males and an occasional female. Just about the time I figured my wintering birds were here a couple of weeks ago, they all left and have been replaced by new birds.

 

A couple of days ago, I had my first Chipping Sparrow of the year. It stayed two days. I haven't seen it today. Yesterday, I saw a female Black-throarted Blue Warbler. She's still here today. I also saw a female Summer Tanager this morning and my first of the season sapsuckers (two of them).

I found a young male Rufous/Allen's in my yard last Thursday that had a full green back so Allen's could not be ruled out based on the amount of Rufous on the bird. I saw the bird a couple of more times over the next couple of days. On Saturday evening, I thought I was watching the bird again when I realized this one had a lot of rufous on its back. A second Rufous/Allen's and this one is a Rufous. I miss the female that was here the past seven years but it's good to see some Rufous activity in the yard again.

I observed a young male Rufous/Allen's in the backyard today. His rufous rump and pointed black tipped tail was obvious. He had a few gorget feathers grown but my memory is failing ma and I can't remember exactly where they were. I believe they were on his cheek. His back was green. There was not enough rufous on his back to rule out Allen's.

 

Unfortunately, I was not able to see him again. I believe I heard him once or twice and I saw a number of chases involving unidentified birds.

 

I've been seeing around five Ruby-throateds daily for the past few weeks.