Trochilids: Winter Hummingbirds & Maps

Since January 10, 2001

This index page last updated: November 8, 2004

Trochilids Website;
Winter Hummingbirds

Annual Maps

Tallies

& Hummingbird Links

For information on how you can purchase Tom Kaminski's award winning 53-minute video at right (and thereby support our Idaho hummingbird research), click the cover photo at right.

Hummingbirds! If you said that word a few years ago, most folks living east of the Mississippi River would only think "Ruby-throated." However, at least small numbers of several western hummingbird species show up in the eastern US in winter. The most common are Rufous Hummingbirds, with over a thousand now reported annually. Most are seen at feeders after Ruby-throateds have departed, and can occur in ANY eastern state. If you want to increase the odds of seeing a winter hummingbird, keep fresh nectar (3 or 4:1, water:white table sugar) in at least one feeder all winter. It also helps if your garden is chock full of hummingbird flowers (at least until frost!) and your yard has lots of "cover," such as evergreens, brambles, and thickets. Don't worry. Leaving feeders out will NOT prevent hummingbirds from migrating. Western hummingbirds do not fly to your home all the way from Idaho, for example, just because your feeder is still out. Feeders simply bring into view some birds that are already in the neighborhood. If you do see an odd hummingbird, or any hummingbird after November 15, please report it to us so we can include it in our tallies. In nearly every state, a licensed bander would also like to band and verify your bird. Here are some of the neat things banders have discovered in the past few years that illustrate how hardy hummingbirds really are: In many cases, the same hummingbirds have returned to the same yards in subsequent winters! A few birds banded in the northeast have apparently departed during severe weather, only to be recaptured in more hospitable climates to the south! A Rufous Hummingbird banded in Virginia one winter was recaptured in Montana the following breeding season. That next winter this particular bird was recaptured in the same Virginia yard where it was first banded! If folks like you didn't allow researchers to band these hummingbirds, many people would continue to worry that all winter hummingbirds encountered in the east were doomed. Some certainly perish during harsh winters, as do other birds like kinglets, chickadees and even large birds like hawks, but we are learning that hummingbirds are infinitely more resilient than we once thought. Mother Nature's like that... Happy Hummingbirding! Calliope Hummingbirds surround a feeder in SE Idaho. Photo © 2003 Stacy Jon Peterson		CURRENT PROJECTS (click the maps)
			Maps and tallies of "extralimital" hummingbirds in fall and winter beginning 1999 through the present year. Breeding and nonbreeding ranges for each species are also shown on their respective maps.
			All you wanted to know about Idaho hummingbirds, including annual spring arrival databases, records of rarities, and hummingbird banding research in the state.
		Links	Look at these hummingbird-related websites for more information about hummingbird banding, recommended hummingbird books and videos, hummer identification, vocalizations, torpor, etc.
		FAQ	More complete hummingbird FAQs can be found on most other hummingbird web pages. These are answers to questions folks have asked me!
		*ARCHIVED discontinued* PROJECTS (click the maps)**
			More detailed map showing all species recorded in Louisiana during winters of 1999 - 2001
			More detailed map showing all species recorded in Louisiana during winter of 2001 / 2002. Project consolidated with USA map (above) after this season.
			All species recorded in Mississippi during partial winter 2000 / 2001. (Partial year due to lack of submissions).
Cats can and do kill hummingbirds. I've seen it. For that and a host of other good reasons, my two cats are always indoors. Are yours?	Bethany's Pet Indoors Page	The Humane Society of the United States: Safe Cats Campaign	American Bird Conservancy, National Audubon Society and other partners
Trochilids: Winter Hummingbirds Web Awards

Annual Georgia hummingbird maps are provided by Rusty Trump at:
Georgia Wintering Hummingbirds.
Annual Florida hummingbird maps will be provided by Steve Backes at:
Florida Hummer Homepage.
Sharon Stichter documents winter hummingbird in the New England states at:
New England Hummer Page
Michael Shepard has mapped Anna' Hummingbirds in British Columbia, Canada at:
BC Birding

Care 2 make a difference?
Join Care2.com's Race for the Rainforest.
By clicking the button below daily or as often as you can
you'll be helping Care2.com and the Nature Conservancy
save land where many of our hummingbirds spend the winter. It's that painless!

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NOTE: Many folks visit this site through a link on Lanny Chambers' excellent web site -- www.hummingbirds.net. Try as I might, I can't convince myself to take the credit for Lanny's fine work. Be aware that "Trochilids" is not associated with Lanny's page -- it's a different project -- so praise intended specifically for Lanny or comments about his spring migration maps for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, etc., should be so directed. Thanks for visiting the "Trochilids" web page, and THANKS for signing our guestbook, regardless of how you got here!

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