Sunday afternoon I spotted an adult male Rufous Hummingbird at a feeder outside my bedroom window. At first, I thought it was a new bird but further observations make me believe it's the young male we banded this year. It's been a couple of weeks since he has been well observed. At that point, he still had a lot of white in his gorget and the paint stripe on his head was standing straight up. Since the first observation yesterday, he's been observed in the same clump of vegetation that the young male used as well as feeding at his preferred feeder. Also, the adult female doesn't seem to be bothered by him.

 

A banded and marked adult plumaged male Ruby-throat is being observed more often than has been the norm as well as other adult males. The banded young male has not been observed recently. I suppose it's possible that the young male is still around and has grown in his gorget and/or may have molted off the paint stripe. 

The 2006-2007 hummingbird season is nearing an end. Last year, the banded female Rufous left on March 15th. One banded Ruby-throat lasted into April. The male Rufous has not been seen in over a week now and the female appears to be planning her exit. About this time last year, she became less visible going a day or two without being seen. At least one day last week when I had time to look for her, she went unseen. She also hasn't been coming out to see me as often as she had been.

 

Most of the Ruby-throats are still around but there is much less territorial fights.

 

I believe a female Black-chinned is frequenting the feeder in the firebush in front of the oak in the center of my front yard. She stays in the neighbor's tree on the left side of my front yard. She drops down into the cassia next to my driveway and waits for a while before moving to the feeder. I've not yet been able to get a good enough photo of her to verify the id.

 

The Clay-colored Sparrow continues to come to my feeders with the chippies but they've recently stopped feeding at the finch feeders with the finch feed and are now almost exclusively feeding at the gazebo feeders on the cheap wild bird seed. I saw an oriole yesterday morning but did not get a good look at it. It was most likely a young male Baltimore as it appeared to have a smudge of black on its throat.

Most of the hummers are still around. The biggest change I've noticed recently is the lack fo the male Rufous. He no longer stays in the hibiscus hedge or the powderpuff. I last saw him on Friday up in the oaks above there. I occasionally hear him lower but he doesn't come out to see me.

 

The Clay-colored Sparrow is regularly coming to the feeders with the chippies. There is some controversy over whether it's a Clay-colored or a chippie. The rump color appears to be gray, a field mark for chippie (although recent photos show it's not gray enough), but the lores are pale, the main field mark for Clay-colored. I've posted photos of this bird at: http://mysite.verizon.net/resu64md/yardhummers20062007/sparrowid.html