Allen's Hummingbird
Lafayette, LA
January 8 through February 16, 2006
This adult male Allen's Hummingbird arrived in my backyard on January 8, 2006, and established a territory amid three Rufous and a Buff-bellied Hummingbird. I banded him the next day thinking he would stay only a short while. I was surprised to find that he still had two old primaries left to replace and might be staying a little longer. Below is a link to the pictures and description from banding.
To my pleasure he remained in the yard over the next 5 weeks and went through the process of replacing his outer two primaries, and a head and gorget molt. I took a series of photos that show stages of this process. Below is a link to a series of head shots over this time period.
February 16 was the last day he was seen in the yard. The fresh tips of the outer two primaries made a whistling noise that made his presence easy to detect. Even the slightest adjustment on a branch created the unmistakable whistling. I videoed the afternoon feeding that followed the photograph taken above. The video can be seen at the "putfile" address below. I tied the microphone to the feeder pole and captured the call note and wing noise of the feeding.
He has been gone three days now and his territory is being disputed by two Rufous. I wish him well on his journey home.
Dave Patton