Monday, August 18, 2008

Winter Hummingbird Banding

The Louisiana Ornithological Society just released its annual report on winter hummingbird banding within their state. The report covers the 2007-2008 winter season. Hummingbirds were banded, and their crowns were marked with colored paper so that observers could identify individuals. There was frequent turnover over the course of the winter, which necessitated return trips to document new individual hummingbirds.

One interesting result is that 19% of the hummingbirds were returning to the same location where they were previously banded. That was especially notable among rufous hummingbirds, 38% of which were returnees.