Nature
Notes for November 27, 2015
“I
still have a hummingbird at my feeder. It’s been around for about four weeks,”
said my friend in casual conversation last Saturday. “I haven’t posted any
pictures because I am having trouble downloading since we upgraded the computer.”
“That’s
a very late date for a hummingbird,” I responded.
“I
think it’s a young one. Some dark feathers are starting to show on the throat.
There’s also a bit of rust on the sides.”
“Really!”
I responded. “Could my husband and I come by your house tomorrow to look for
it?”
So
we did. We found the bird, sheltering in a dogwood bush not far from a
hummingbird feeder.
It
was not a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. If a hummingbird appears after the end of
September, it is worth taking a closer look at it. Most of the time, birders in
this area do not look too closely at hummingbirds, since there is only one, the
Ruby-throated, that regularly occurs in Ontario.
This
bird poses an identification problem. There are two species, the Rufous and Allen’s,
which look very much alike. The females, which this bird is, are almost
indistinguishable from each other. The diagnostic feature is the shape and
width of the tail feathers. Throughout our observation of the bird, it did not
once fan its tail to show off the important feathers. Fortunately, the host of
this bird is a good photographer and has some shots of the fanned tail.
Based
on other vagrant hummingbird records for Ontario, this bird is most likely a
Rufous, but definite identification will have to await close examination of the
photographs.
Rufous Hummingbird. Notice snow on the branches.
photo © Carolyn Smoke
The
normal range of both Rufous and Allen’s Hummingbirds is from the Rocky
Mountains west. The breeding range of the Rufous extends as far north as
Alaska, while the Allen’s breeding range is entirely within coastal Oregon and
California. By November, both species should be in Mexico and Central America.
Why they sometimes turn up so far out of range continues to be a mystery. It is
unlikely that this bird will survive the winter.
I
will probably have many Ontario birders very annoyed that I will not divulge
the exact location of this bird, but I want to keep my friend. This bird is
rare enough that a hoard of people would descend on the location if it became
public.
In
a fall with few unusual birds, a second one appeared last week. Although not as
rare as a Rufous Hummingbird, Tufted Titmouse is not a common species in this
area. It is in the same family of birds as chickadees.
South
of Lake Ontario, it is a common bird of deciduous woodlands and at backyard
feeders. It has been slowly expanding its range into Ontario, coming around
both ends of Lake Ontario. Twenty-five years ago, birders would make a trip to
Niagara-on-the-Lake to see a Tufted Titmouse for their year list. This species
has been recorded several times in recent years at Presqu’ile.
The
Tufted Titmouse is larger than a chickadee, with gray back, buff underparts
and, as the name would suggest, a feather crest on the top of its head. It was
making visits to the peanut and sunflower feeders, the same as the chickadees
and nuthatches. Like them, it caches seeds in grooves in tree bark or in cracks
in a fence to eat when the snow makes foraging difficult.
It
will be interesting to see if either of these birds hangs around until the
local Christmas Bird Counts. Dates for Northumberland County counts this year
are Port Hope-Cobourg on December 19, Presqu’ile-Brighton on December 20 and
Rice Lake Plains on January 1, 2016.
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