 |
 |
Winter Hummingbirds in the Southeastern U.S. Wintering hummingbirds in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia are the primary focus of Hummingbird Research, Inc. Conventional wisdom used to hold that the only hummingbird in the eastern U.S. was the Ruby-throated, and all of them migrated to the tropics in the winter. Our research has proven this is not true. We have banded ten species of hummingbirds in the Southeast during the winter, and some of those birds return to the same home year after year. Wintering hummingbirds documented in the Southeast so far by Hummingbird Research, Inc. are Ruby-throated, Black-chinned, Rufous, Allen’s, Broad-tailed, Calliope, Buff-bellied, Anna’s, Costa’s, and Broad-billed Hummingbirds. Black-chinned Hummingbirds and Bergmann’s Rule During the summer of 2019, Fred Bassett will continue studying Black-chinned Hummingbirds from the Mexican border to Canada. In particular, he is trying to determine whether this species increases in size from the southern portion of its range in Mexico (where it is very small) to the northern edge of its breeding range in British Columbia. A scientific principle, Bergmann’s Rule, holds that animals and birds are bigger in the north than in the south, because a larger individual can withstand cold better than a smaller one. This principle has never been investigated in hummingbirds. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in Western Canada During the summer of 2011, Doreen Cubie continued studying Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in western Canada, a multi-year research project funded in part by the Baillie Fund of Bird Studies Canada. In July, she banded 10 Rubythroats in northeastern British Columbia, which is the farthest west and north that breeding Rubythroats have ever been banded. Fred Bassett continued Doreen's research banding hummingbirds (Ruby-throated, Calliope, and Rufous) in Alberta and northeastern British Columbia during June and July 2014. Read Doreen's 2011 Canada Banding Summary |
|
   |
