Rufous Hummingbird, 0ttawa, 11/23

[Allen T. Chartier]

Mike,

I'm glad to hear that the Rufous Hummingbird is still so regular. It may interest you to know that this species breeds at higher elevations in the northern Rocky Mountains into southern Alaska, so they are much better adapted to cold than are our Ruby-throats. Many of these birds have survived quite well in the Upper Midwest in freezing temperatures as long as the homeowner keeps their feeder from freezing. I plan to contact the homeonwer soon to provide her with suggestions on how to do just that.

Allen T. Chartier
amazilia1 at comcast.net
Inkster, Michigan, USA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Website: www.amazilia.net
HummerNet: www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet
Blog: http://mihummingbirdguy.blogspot.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
=========================================

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: michael overway 
  To: mich-chat at envirolink.org 
  Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2008 9:21 PM
  Subject: Rufous Hummingbird, 0ttawa, 11/23


  Greetings All,

  I talked with the homeowner around 4:45 this evening concerning their little celebrity.  The bird was frequently viewed throughout the day.  The bird apparently roosts for the night in a shrub with foliage next to the neighbor's garage (garage to the south of the back yard).  During the day the bird frequents the nearly leafless and slightly larger shrub/bushy tree just to the west of the other shrub.  We viewed him on his perch in that tree and last saw the bird at about 5:05 at the larger feeder.  After a last drink he disappeared, presumably in to the shrub with foliage.  Fyi, the bird uses both feeders in the back yard.  Let's hope he continues to survive the cold.

  Concerning the Purple Sandpipers and the Harlequin Duck that continued at Muskegon earlier today.  In my post to michlisters, I thanked "Joshua" for the original post.  As you may have noticed, this was in error.  Thank you Joseph Lautenbach for the original post; my apologies.

  mike overway




------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  Mich-chat mailing list
  Mich-chat at envirolink.org
  You can unsubscribe or change your options at:
  http://lists.envirolink.org/mailman/listinfo/mich-chat
  this message was delivered to:
  amazilia1 at comcast.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/mich-chat/attachments/20081123/fbbc9c76/attachment.html