Wonder of Hummingbirds Festival Features Banding!

One of the central attractions of the Wonder of Hummingbirds Festival each year is the hummingbird banding demonstrations given by Mark Armstrong, Master Bander of hummingbirds and songbirds.  

Small groups make it easier for everyone to hear the bander and see the banding process.  While visitors wait their turn, Oliver Lang, above, talks with visitors about hummers and banding.   In another area, Mike Nelson describes the life of hummingbirds and how they are captured for banding. In the images below, Mike shows a tiny hummingbird nest to visitors from Indiana.

Photo credit:  Billie Cantwell

Hummingbirds are captured in wire traps that surround the feeder.  The traps have a door that lifts open.  Hummingbirds seeking nectar will go inside the trap to drink and the door, connected to a long fishing line, can be lowered once the hummer is inside.

Hummingbirds are attracted to nectar feeders and flowers.  A large stand of Jewel Weed was present near the hummingbird banding area.

Photo credit:  Jody Stone               Jewel Weed is a favorite nectar blossom for hummingbirds

Hummingbirds that are captured in the traps are removed and carefully placed in a mesh bag to hold them until the bander is ready to process them.  Hummingbirds, like other birds, feed more actively in the early morning hours.

Photo credit:  Jody Stone

Master banders undergo many hours of training and receive a special certification that allows them to capture and band birds.  Data collected is reported to the Bird Banding Laboratory in Bethesda, Maryland, and contributes to scientific knowledge about bird populations and migration patterns.

Before he removes the hummer from the bag. Mark explains what he is going to do and how the band fits on the hummingbird's leg. 

He first checks to see if the hummingbird wears a band. Below, he uses a blunt darning needle as a tool to lift the hummers tiny foot and check its legs.

When no band is present, Mark places a new band on the hummer's leg with a special number series that will identify the bird if re-captured.  

The band is closed around the leg with a special set of banding plyers.

Below, you can see the band and its tiny numbers.  If Mark captures a hummer that is already wearing a band, he records the band number and checks his records to see if the band number is one of his.  This year at the hummingbird festival, he re-captured one of the hummingbirds that he banded at last year's festival, giving him an opportunity to check its health.  Hummingbirds are known to be very loyal to their feeding territories and can often be found in that territory on the same days each year.

Photo credit:  Karen Wilkinson

Above and below, Mark examines a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird using magnifying glasses. With a digital instrument, he measures the length of the beak.

Photo credit:  Karen Wilkinson

Males, females and juveniles range in the length of their beaks, with the males generally having shorter beaks.

Above, Mark uses a magnifying loop to examine a juvenile's beak for grooving to help age the bird. Juvenile bills are still growing and have grooves while adults have no grooving

When the examination is complete, Mark shows visitors the banded hummer.  Janie Kading (left) assists him during banding.

Photo credit:  Karen Wilkinson

When banding is complete, an assistant allows a young visitor to release the bird. The sensation of a hummer's wings fluttering in the hand as it buzzes away is delightful to all ages!

Photo credit:  Karen Wilkinson

Watch for next years festival date on this blog's side bar.  I will post it where you see the current year's date as soon as the 2015 date is decided!

Visit all the posts on this year's festival by clicking the link:  Wonder of Hummingbirds--2014

Wonder of Hummingbird festival on Facebook
Wonder of Hummingbird Festival Blog
Wonder of Hummingbird Festival_2013
Wonder of Hummingbird Festival 2013 on Tennessee Wildside
KTOS on Facebook
Hummingbird Banding Demonstration 2009
Mark Armstrong, Master Bander
Knoxville Chapter of Tennessee Ornithological Society
Ijams Nature Center

Hummingbirds and Hurricanes

Ruby-throated Hummingbird male.

This morning I helped trap hummingbirds for banding at Seven Islands State Birding Park in east Tennessee where local Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are preparing for migration and others are stopping to feed enroute to their wintering grounds in Central America and Southern Mexico.  At the same time, three hurricanes are churning in the south Atlantic, and as I write, hurricane Irma, originally a category 5 hurricane that has devastated many islands in the Carribean, is barreling down on Florida.

Above, Mark Armstrong demonstrates hummingbird banding at Ijams nature center, with Janie Kading assisting.

Knowing that Ruby-throated hummingbird migration is in full swing, I have wondered how these hurricanes have affected their migration.  I asked my friend and east Tennessee hummingbird expert, Mark Armstrong, to share what he knew about storm affects on migration. He answered with these comments:
"Unfortunately I don’t know much about their [hummingbird] survival in a storm.  I’ve heard of birds making landfall on the fringes of other storms and arriving thin and exhausted.  I’ve also read that migration from an evolutionary standpoint is actually across a broad front and a prolonged period so that some part of the population may be affected by adverse weather the majority will not be and survive.  I also keep thinking about Dr. Buehler’s Golden-winged warblers. They were at their breeding territories, left when tornados were heading their way, some went to the Gulf coast and one went back to Cuba.  Then they returned to breeding territories after the threat passed.  That is amazing and we really don’t know what birds may be perceiving and if they are capable of moving away from a danger like a hurricane.  Any small bird I can’t imagine would survive a direct hit from a storm with extremely high winds."

I, for one, am glad that the local hummingbirds frequenting my yard are hanging around and hope they will wait to leave until the many storm threats pass.

Meanwhile, we had a fun surprise during our banding session this morning at Seven Islands.  You may think that the hummingbird pictured above is a mature male Ruby-throat.  But surprise--this is a juvenile!  Normally, we expect to see juvenile males in their first year with scattered red throat feathers like the one pictured in image three or we might see small clusters of three or four red feathers as their gorget begins forming.

This first year male had an almost fully formed gorget, which Mark described as a rare occurrence in his experience.  Mark has banded over 4000 Ruby-throated hummingbirds since he began banding hummingbirds in 2005.  The juvenile pictured had white tail feather tips and other attributes that are the identifying characteristics of juveniles.

Most of our hummingbirds will leave Tennessee by the end of September with some late individuals departing by the second week of October.  Remember to leave at least one feeder out to feed our wintering hummingbirds that come from the west.  These birds often arrive from October to December.  If you should have a hummingbird at your feeder after November 1st, contact Mark Armstrong at Woodthrush@bellsouth.net or 865-748-2224.

Photo credit for banding images:  Mark Armstrong
Why do we band hummingbirds?
Mark Armstrong and banding at Seven Islands
Wintering Hummingbirds in Tennessee
Seven Islands State Birding Park

Three Wintering Rufous Hummingbirds in East Tennessee

Sunday, December 15th, was a cold and windy day, creating considerable discomfort at times as I accompanied Jane and Mark Armstrong on their travels to band three wintering hummingbirds.  Without a doubt, the reward of seeing three of these hardy birds in one day far exceeded the discomforts of early hours and occasional numb fingers. 

Take a look at the image above and the two directly below it and you'll see how different each of these wintering Rufous Hummingbirds appeared.

In the top image you see a mature female Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) with a large number of gorget feathers on her throat and thick feathering on her brow. Directly above, appearing quite different, an immature female is pictured.  And below, an immature male Rufous Hummingbird in his first winter season after hatching.

Each of these wintering birds was located in a different county in Tennessee, and captured and examined by Mark Armstrong, east Tennesee's Master Bander of hummingbirds, and assisted by Jane, who helps with the set up and records the data Mark collects.

Once the trap is in place with the feeder inside it, Mark sits quietly, a distance away from the feeder, with a fishing reel in hand.  The line on the reel is attached to a wire door on the trap that slides up and down, and can be lifted with tension on the line, or lowered with the release of tension once the hummingbird is inside the trap. In the above image, Mark is removing the captured hummingbird from the trap.

The morning was overcast and 33 degrees F with 4 mph wind gusts, making sitting still outside for any length of time very cold.  After briefly rubbing his hands together to stimulate some warmth, Mark opened the bag to examine the hummingbird that had been visiting Janet and Bob Cushman's feeder in Roan County since approximately October 27th.  The couple noticed a difference in this bird that lingered behind after their Ruby-throated Hummingbirds had departed.      

To Mark's surprise and excitement, he found a band on this hummingbird's leg!  The band series indicated it was not one of Mark's bands, meaning the band had been placed on the bird in another geographic area. The recovery of a band is great news for a bander and is actually what banding is all about.  Once the banding data is retrieved, Mark will know more about this bird's age, where she has been before arriving in Tennessee, and if lucky, perhaps her breeding area.

Above, Mark is measuring the hummingbird's wing.  Wing measurements, as well as tail measurements, are important in distinguishing similar hummingbird species.  The Eastern migration of Rufous Hummingbirds has been studied for many years, with the first record of a wintering Rufous species in the eastern United States reported in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1909.

Above, Mark measures the beak length with a digital instrument.

During the fall of 1988, Bob and Martha Sargent began studying wintering hummingbirds in Alabama, Georgia, Forida, Mississippi, and Tennessee, compiling reports of these birds, and when possible, banding them.  Comparing records from past years, and their compilation of reports from the six winters from 1990 to 1996, in just this five state region, 1,643 Selasphorus hummingbirds were reported (Broad-tailed, Rufous and Allen's species) during winter months, showing a substantial increase in numbers.  95% of those recorded were Rufous Hummingbirds.

In the images above, Mark is using magnification to examine the beak for grooving.  Grooving indicates the bird is immature and still in its hatching year.  This female inidividual had no grooving in her beak which means she is a mature bird.  It is possible the banding data, once retrieved, may identify her age more specifically.

Above, Mark makes an approximate count of her gorget feathers, and Jane records the data below.

Rufous hummingbirds breed and spend their summer months in the western states.  Very little is presently known about where these wintering hummingbirds are breeding and what route they may be taking as they reach Tennessee.  Some may be passing through Tennessee en route to other areas.

Mark places the hummingbird in Janet's hand for release.  Janet recently reported that their female Rufous has been visiting the feeders in the two days since her capture, though she visits less frequently during warmer periods.

Next:  Our second stop, a juvenile female

Links and Resources:

Western Hummingbirds Wintering in Tennessee
Allen's Hummingbird in Tennessee
Rufous Hummer in Knoxville 
In recent years, fourteen species of hummingbirds have been documented in the east during fall and winter months.  In east Tennessee, report sightings to Mark Armstrong at Woodthrush@bellsouth.net or 865-748-2224.  For a list of contact information for other eastern areas, visit winter reporting on the Hummer Study Group website or report sightings to Bob and Martha Sargent, Rubythroat@aol.com or 205-681-2888.
Other blog posts on Wintering hummingbirds in Tennessee
Visit Bob Sargent's information on wintering hummingbirds
Bob Sargent describes the Rufous Hummingbird as very cold-hardy.
Sargent on wintering Calliopes and the Allen's Hummingbird
Hummingbird banding
Hummingbirds in watercolor
Hummingbird art on Vickie's Sketchbook blog
Cornell's All About Birds:  Rufous Hummingbirds

Wintering Hummingbirds and a Recovered Band

There is a lot of mystery around what attracts Tennessee's wintering Rufous Hummingbirds to a particular habitat.  These habitats are termed "pockets", areas of habitat that are attracting western hummingbirds that are migrating in an easterly direction rather than taking a traditional route south.  

Banding is the primary way in which biologists are learning about these migration changes.  If you look closely at the image above, you can see the band this hummingbird wears on her right leg.

Mark Armstrong, east Tennessee's Master Bander, identified her as a mature Rufous female when he captured and examined her on December 15th in the Oak Ridge area, just across the Roan County line.  She was already wearing a band.  Mark reported the band number and location to the Bird Banding Laboratory at Patuxent Wldlife Research Center in Patuxent Maryland.  Today, he received the following information:  

Species:  RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD

Date banded:  12/21/2012

Banding location:  ...TALLAHASSEE, LEON COUNTY, FLORIDA, USA

Age:  HATCHED IN 2012

Sex:  FEMALE

In her hatching year winter she migrated to Florida, and in her second year, from late October to this date in December, she has wintered in Tennessee.  If you draw a straight line from Oak Ridge, Tennessee to Tallahassee, Florida your line will go due south. 

Photo credit:  Mark Armstrong

The Birds of North America's most recent range map is shown below.  In their non-breeding season, Rufous Hummingbirds are found from northern Mexico to Florida, primarily along coastal areas.  But they are also occuring inland in southeastern states in pockets.  Not yet shown on the map are the many Rufous Hummingbirds that are being banded during the winter months in Pennsylvania!

There are many unanswered questions, but it is certain, that banding these birds is the only way we will understand their migraton, their foraging habits in the winter, and their survival strategies.  If you don't already have a feeder out, put one out!  Many of these birds arrive as early as August.  Others arrive in December! 

In east Tennessee, report sightings to Mark Armstrong (above) at Woodthrush@bellsouth.net or 865-748-2224. For a list of contact information for other eastern areas, visit winter reporting on the Hummer Study Group website or report sightings to Bob and Martha Sargent, Rubythroat@aol.com or 205-681-2888.

Next:  More on the three birds banded on Dec 15th and an update on some of the others previously reported.

Links and Resources:

Bird Banding Laboratory
Birds of North America--I highly recommend subscribing to the online version.
Western Hummingbirds Wintering in Tennessee
Allen's Hummingbird in Tennessee
Rufous Hummer in Knoxville 
Other blog posts on Wintering hummingbirds in Tennessee
In recent years, fourteen species of hummingbirds have been documented in the east during fall and winter months.  Visit Bob Sargent's information on wintering hummingbirds
Bob Sargent describes the Rufous Hummingbird as very cold-hardy.
Sargent on wintering Calliopes and the Allen's Hummingbird
Hummingbird banding
Hummingbirds in watercolor
Hummingbird art on Vickie's Sketchbook blog
Cornell's All About Birds:  Rufous Hummingbirds

A Juvenile Rufous Looks in the Window!

Tellico Village is an incorporated community on the western shore of the Tellico Reservoir in Loudon County, Tennessee.  The community is suburban in arrangement but each cluster of housing is separated by wooded areas and the entire community borders the Tellico Reservoir, also known as Tellico Lake.

From Joan and Charles Omarzu's deck where a hummingbird feeder hangs, there is a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside, and in the distance, Mount LeConte and other features of the Great Smoky Mountains can be seen. 

Joan hung a feeder out last November but did not notice a hummingbird visiting during that season. She also noted later that the feeder was not easily viewed from the window. This year, she initially decided she would not hang a feeder, but on December 2nd, Charles thought he saw a hummingbird around the deck. Joan watched the deck for a while and the hummingbird came to the window and hovered in front of her. She quickly made sugar water and hung a feeder out!

Above, Mark Armstrong, Master Bander for hummingbirds and songbirds in east Tennessee, removes the hummingbird from the trap after it is captured and places it in a mesh bag to hold it safely until he is ready to band it, a time-span that can usually be measured in seconds.

The hummingbird trap was hand-made by Mark, who is a biologist and the bird curator at the Knoxville Zoo, and past president of the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society.  A sliding door, positioned on one side of the trap, is opened and closed by the tension of a line attached to a fishing reel that Mark holds in his hand. When the line is pulled tight, the door lifts up.  When tension is released the door comes down and captures the hummer inside.    

Bird banders are specially trained and licensed volunteers.  In addition to earning a songbird banding license, the hummingbird bander spends hundreds of hours specifically training to band hummingbirds.  Banders either purchase or make their own equipment.

Even the specially numbered bands issued by the Bird Banding Laboratory come on a metal sheet that must be carefully disassembled and the tiny numbered strips formed into rings that will fit the hummingbird's leg. The rings are then placed on a wire in numbered sequence, ready to be opened with pliars and closed again around the banded hummingbird's leg.

This hummingbird's band begins with J43.  The J represents a beginning series of numbers, shortening the number sequence recorded and helping banders recognize a band number sequence more quickly.

Friend, Claire Manzo, who has also had a wintering hummingbird at her Tellico Village home in the past, takes a video of the banding process to show their bird club.  Claire has organized the Tellico Village birding organization, the Tellico Villiage Birders, and is the current president.

Above, Mark measures the length of the hummingbird's tail feathers and below he measures the length of the beak.

In the image below you see the small stocking that cradles the hummer.  Mark counts the gorget feathers that have developed as a part of his record on this juvenile.  

The juvenile's bare belly is revealed when Mark blows air through a straw.  Both males and females have a bear belly that is concealed by feathers.  The belly area is the place where most of the hummingbird's fat is stored.  In this image you can also see the tiny foot and the gorget feathers reflecting a deep red as they change with the angle of light.  

When Mark weighed the bird, he remarked that this bird had the heaviest weight he had recorded during the winter months.  Large fat deposits are usually an indication of a bird getting ready for migration or one that has just arrived at its migrating destination.

The juvenile is molting baby feathers and growing in new rufous ones on his back and head.  You can see the mixture of rufous and greenish feathers on his back and the gray and green feathers on his crown that will be replaced by rufous feathers when he matures.  

Above, the distinctly rufous colors in the tail feathers.

When his examination is completed, Mark places the hummingbird in Joan's hand for release.

Often a Rufous hummingbird relaxes during the examination process and sits in the hand without noticing that it is free to fly. Mark gives the juvenile a gentle nudge with his finger and he buzzes away.

Visit Mark Armstrong's interview earlier this year with Live at Five at Four as he is banding hummingbirds at his home during late summer (a brief commercial precedes the interview).  Mark and his wife, Jane, live in Seymour, Tennessee, and having assisted their banding operation a couple of times, I can say they have hundreds of hummingbirds visiting their feeders.  The numbers of birds visiting a yard's feeders is influenced by the number of years feeders have been present.  Breeding birds are loyal to breeding areas and migrating birds remember their nectar source.

In east Tennessee, report winter hummingbird sightings to Mark Armstrong at Woodthrush@bellsouth.net or 865-748-2224. For a list of contact information for other eastern areas, visit winter reporting on the Hummer Study Group website or report sightings to Bob and Martha Sargent, Rubythroat@aol.com or 205-681-2888.

Links and Resources:

Western Hummingbirds Wintering in Tennessee
Allen's Hummingbird in Tennessee
Rufous Hummer in Knoxville 
Other blog posts on Wintering hummingbirds in Tennessee
In recent years, fourteen species of hummingbirds have been documented in the east during fall and winter months.  Visit Bob Sargent's information on wintering hummingbirds
Bob Sargent describes the Rufous Hummingbird as very cold-hardy.
Sargent on wintering Calliopes and the Allen's Hummingbird
Hummingbird banding
Hummingbirds in watercolor
Hummingbird art on Vickie's Sketchbook blog
Cornell's All About Birds:  Rufous Hummingbirds
Bird Banding Laboratory
Birds of North America--I highly recommend subscribing to the online version for detailed descriptions of all North American bird species.