Tuesday, March 4, 2008

What happened with our hummingbirds in 2007?

From May 6 to August 29, 403 captures, of which 370 were new and 33 were returning birds banded in 2006, as well as one bird banded in Houston, Texas, in 2005.

Stoke - 241 birds

228 new

* 130 adult ♂
* 23 juvenile ♂
* 68 adult ♀
* 7 juvenile ♀

13 returns

* 7 adult ♂
* 6 adult ♀

Richmond - 126 birds

106 new

* 39 adult ♂
* 18 juvenile ♂
* 40 adult ♀
* 9 juvenile ♀

20 returns

* 8 adult ♂
* 12 adult ♀

Orford - 32 birds

32 new

* 13 adult ♂
* 6 juvenile ♂
* 12 adult ♀
* 1 juvenile ♀

Saint-Denis-de-Brompton - 3 birds

2 new

* 2 adult ♂
* 1 already banded adult ♀

We also got hundreds of data entries from watchers across Québec, which were greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, only two sightings of colour-marked hummingbirds were reported.

Thanks to all of you, and see you soon!

Will we do better in 2008?

[Translation of a post by Jacques Turgeon]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

[Isabelle’s comment:]

When in the season do hummingbirds moult? When they come back in the spring, have they already lost all the feathers you colour-marked?

Jacques Turgeon said...

Hello Isabelle,

Hummingbirds start moulting in late summer but the colouring we use doesn’t last very long; probably 2 months max. So when they come back in the spring, they won’t have colour-marks unless they have been captured again.

Jacques T.