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Rufous Hummingbird in CT (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter MikeyZ
- Start date
Yes, although rare, they have been known to visit the east coast. My sister in law had one for about a week in August in NJ a few years back. I remember one about 10 yrs or so ago that visited a South Jersey home and stayed the whole winter. The people called birding groups to confirm that it was a Rufous and yes it sure was. They had a heat lamp on all winter to keep the feeder from freezing.
They are currently breeding/nesting in New Mexico? All info I have read says their breeding grounds are the northwest and up into Alaska. Do you have pictures of their nests by any chance? I have about 40 male and female rufous right now. They will hang for 2-3 weeks and then start heading back to Mexico.
They've been here since April. The nests are in a bunch of elm trees and I can't get in there to get a pic. I keep trying to take pictures of the juveniles and adults but they are more skittish than the Broad-Tails. I'm also trying to get a picture of our Black-Chins. There are two pairs. We are at 5300 Ft. and only 70 miles from the Colorado Mountains near Durango. We get a lot of Rufous nesting pairs in this area.
Tz'unun
Featherless Biped
The Rufous's unique combination of long migration and short nesting season makes it seem as though they nest well south of their actual breeding range. Here in southeastern Arizona, there's only six to seven weeks between the last northbound Rufous (early May) and the earliest southbound birds (late June). The further north you go, the smaller the "gap" would be. They're usually common in the southern Rockies by late July, when the similar-looking female Broad-taileds are still trying to nest.
Based on banding studies, the average Rufous spends less than a week at any one stopover site, so there's a lot of turnover through the migration season!
Based on banding studies, the average Rufous spends less than a week at any one stopover site, so there's a lot of turnover through the migration season!
I watched them build their nests. It was hard to get to but I could see them carrying spider webs and other things. That was in early April. They are nesting. Maybe they're lost or something but they definitely have nests.
Tz'unun
Featherless Biped
Since female Rufous and Broad-tailed are very similar, and the more readily distinguishable males take no part in nesting, rigorous, detailed documentation will be required to verify a 600-mile southward extension in the species' breeding range.
that must be why the males were watching over the females during the building and nesting process. They've commandeered one of the feeders and won't allow any other species to use it. I'm sorry you don't believe me. But, they're not supposed to be in the southeast either... summer or winter.
I don't need to document anything. I know what they were doing and I enjoyed every minute of it. Have a nice day.
Tz'unun
Featherless Biped
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Nobody believed the folks in the Southeast, either, until they went to the trouble of documenting their wintering hummingbirds through photographs and banding. In fact, they're now some of the best documented hummingbirds in the world.
Too bad you're not the documenting type - evidence of Rufous nesting in New Mexico would really set the ornithological world on its ear. |
|I contacted several of my birding friends located in your area. They all are unaware and have never heard of nesting Rufous in your/their area. Their birding club would like very much to see and document this. Would you be willing to have them come out to your property?
