Great hummingbird banding day

[Allen Chartier]

Hello Everyone,

Early yesterday morning (July 23), I headed over to Battle Creek, Michigan, to band hummingbirds at one of my favorite places in the state - Mary Bird's home/hummer haven. I was joined by Brenda Keith, who has a subpermit under mine and who banded all the birds, and Rich Keith, our newly designated master trapper :-) I supervised, recorded data, and color marked the birds before release.

I've been banding hummingbirds at Mary's since 2004, and have tried to get to her place once each month from June through September. In 2004 we banded 40 birds (none in "summer"); in 2005 we banded 101 birds; in 2006 we banded 102 birds (see http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/CAL3.HTM). In June of this year, we banded 37, and recaptured 6 from previous years (1 from 2006, 4 from 2005, and 1 from 2004). Yesterday, we were expecting somewhat fewer birds, as is typical for July as females are busy feeding young that have not yet fledged. Mary met us in the morning, and told us that her numbers were down, and that she wasn't filling the feeders as much as she had been.

We were totally amazed when, after three hours of banding we had banded 46 new hummingbirds. Even more amazing was the recaptures, which was the best I've ever experienced in a single session. We recaptured 23 birds. Four were banded in June 2007, 7 were from 2006, 10 were from 2005, and 2 were from 2004. All but two of these recaptures were females. And, as an added bonus, the first young of the year was banded as well...typically I don't catch any before July 25, although one did fledge from a nest in Monroe County some time around July 15 this year.

I can't wait to see what's in store for us at Mary's place in August! We've already banded 83 birds (82 adults), so we'll almost certainly band more than 100 again this year, with the potential for learning even more in future years about return rates and survivorship of these amazing birds.

Allen Chartier
amazilia1 at comcast.net
1442 West River Park Drive
Inkster, MI  48141
Website: http://www.amazilia.net
Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet
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Every day, the hummingbird eats its own weight in food.
You may wonder how it weighs the food. It doesn't.
It just eats another hummingbird.
---Steven Wright
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