Not much new has happened since the banding. Most of the same birds are still around. I haven't had much time to watch them.

 

The male Rufous continues in his usual place along the left side of the back yard. I saw less of him starting a couple of days after the banding after the neighbors worked outside in their yard making noise with a saw. Things seem to be back to normal with him. The female Rufous continues to rule the yard while allowing the regulars some freedoms.

 

There are still a number of male Ruby-throats with the banded ones seen a couple of times since the banding. I believe I still have multiple adults in the yard. It would have helped if we could have banded and marked more than just the one.

Fred Bassett visited my yard today with Doreen (I'm having one those memory moments and can't remember Doreen's last name). The two key birds to trap were the young male Rufous and the banded female Rufous. I was concerned that with the temperature in the 80's today would resemble November banding results where with ten or more birds present, only one enters the trap.

The session started out with a bang when the male Rufous entered the trap very early. While processing him, a young male Ruby-throat entered the second trap. While they were both being processed, at least 4 hummers were observed/heard around the traps. It just doesn't get better than this.

An hour and a half of observing empty cages later, just after it was declared that we were done in two minutes, an adult male Ruby-throat finally entered a trap. That ended our session. I was able to capture 4 of the 6 digits on the female Rufous' band earlier this year with my camera so we didn't really need to capture her to confirm her identity. 

Final Tally:
1 second year male Rufous
1 second year male Ruby-throat
1 after second year male Ruby-throat

Thanks go out to Fred and Doreen for their time and efforts in banding our birds, the knowledge gained, and the information they share with the observers of the banding process.

The Clay-colored Sparrow has not been seen in the past two days since I posted that I'd seen it the previous two days. Considering earlier reports of the bird, I'm sure it's still around, just not coming to the feeders in my yard. I assume I'll see it again but I won't recommend visits to my yard if that's the only target bird. All of the hummers are still around including the two Rufous.

I missed a great photo op on New Years Day. I was discussing hummingbirds with a neighbor who didn't know we had them around here when one flew in and slowly passed by in front of her and then preceded to try to feed from each light on a string of Christmas lights that wraps around a podocarpus.

Pretty much the same hummers are around that were here before Christmas. Bees have moved in becoming quite a problem with competition for feeders as well as completely emptying many of them daily. A neighbor's feeder was at least half covered by one swarm. This may be the reason for a recent increase in activity in my front yard feeders. The two Rufous continue to rule the backyard.

 

Fred Bassett will be making a pass through central Florida the week of January 14th to band hummingbirds. Please e-mail me with any reports of possible hummers for banding.

 

One songbird of note: a bird has been seen on 3 or 4 occasions associating with a small flock of warblers, kinglets, gnatcatchers, and vireos that may be a Bell's Vireo. The flock has not been seen regularly by me and the vireo has been seen even less. If you're in the yard to see the hummers, watch the other birds in the trees and report any interesting sightings to me. Thanks.