those remarkable hummers!

["L. D. Giddings" <seldom74 at xmission dot com>]

For those of you who don't subscribe to the Idaho list, the following
was posted yesterday by Stacy Peterson. I found it impressive and
thought it appropriate to share.

Lu Giddings

******************************************************************
Message: 5
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 14:17:02 EDT
From: SJPeterson@aol.com
Subject: Idaho Hummingbird Recapture!

Howdy Idahoans,

Have you ever visited the Nature Conservancy's RAMSEY CANYON PRESERVE in

southeastern Arizona?  It's a great place to see lots of neat SE Arizona

specialties -- especially hummingbirds.

Apparently one Idahoan in particular has visited this place -- she is
known
among some folks as N34942, but among others as "that big beautiful
female
Black-chinned Hummingbird!"  Peggy Peterson banded her during one of our

banding sessions at Kent Rudeen's Ranch south of American Falls on
Memorial Day
Weekend 2004.

N34942 was recaptured by Dr. Susan Wethington at the Ramsey Canyon
Preserve
in Arizona on 6 September 2005 -- 788 miles away!  This is the
second-longest
point-to-point encounter of a Black-chinned Hummingbird on  record. [The

longest was of a male banded in 1988 in Sonoita, Arizona;  recaptured in
1991 in
Jalisco, Mexico -- 917 miles away].

Needless to say, we'll be keeping an eye open for N34942 when we  return
to
the Rudeen Ranch on Memorial Day Weekend 2006!  [Yes, I've  made plans
to
return. Our 4th annual May trip will be Sunday and Monday of  Memorial
Day Weekend,
2006. We'd love to have you join us].

This female Black-chinned is the first of Idaho's banded hummingbirds
to be
reported elsewhere, but she's not the first significant encounter at the

Rudeen Ranch.  In 2004 we encountered a female Calliope there that had
been
banded in southwestern New Mexico the previous fall!  This same female
Calliope
was encountered AGAIN at the Rudeen Ranch on Memorial Day Weekend this
year
(2005).

Elsewhere, in fall 2004 we encountered an adult male Black-chinned
Hummingbird at Michael Wiegand's house in Pearl that we had been banded
a couple
months earlier at the Shasky residence in Mountain Home -- about 60
miles  east.

And in fall 2002 I captured a young Black-chinned Hummingbird in my yard
on
Mtn Home AFB that had been banded a month earlier in Fanny Bay, British
Columbia, Canada -- 614 miles away.

As always, we're so thankful to these hummingbird hosts who allow us  to

study hummingbirds in their yards.  We're receiving some fascinating
insights
into the lives of Idaho's hummingbirds.   Now that fall's set  in, we're
just
waiting to get more information on "wintering" hummingbirds in  Idaho
(Anna's,
primarily!)...  Great stuff.

Best wishes,

--Stacy Jon  Peterson


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