On July 31st I saw a female Rufous Hummingbird coming to one of the feeders, so I kept looking and yesterday noticed that not only is she banded, but I managed to see the numbers 39 through the scope. Last December (04),when my humbander came out, we had a double recapture - 2 females Rufouses which had been banded originally here on January 19th, 04. Their bands were numbered N39257 and N39258 and at the recapture they were color-marked on the crown with blue and yellow, respectively. Then later yesterday, while watching her through the scope at 60x magnification, I saw 2 spots of blue color still on her head!!
So this bird is N39257, which arrived here at the end of July last year and stayed all winter and now she's found here way back here again. It would be great if N39258 would show up, too, but last year she didn't arrive till the beginning of December. I would love to know where she has spent her summer breeding season, specially as she's only been gone about 4 months.
Here's a rather poor digiscoped shot I got this morning, but you can see the blue spots of paint on the crown.
So this bird is N39257, which arrived here at the end of July last year and stayed all winter and now she's found here way back here again. It would be great if N39258 would show up, too, but last year she didn't arrive till the beginning of December. I would love to know where she has spent her summer breeding season, specially as she's only been gone about 4 months.
Here's a rather poor digiscoped shot I got this morning, but you can see the blue spots of paint on the crown.
