Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 16:17:16 -0700
From: Ron Rovansek <ron@NVWETLANDS.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Fw: ID thoughts

Hey, If we are trading unlikely hummingbird reports, here are some of mine. A few years ago in Baton Rouge I discussed at length the presence of two berylline hummingbirds in one fellow's backyard. We were not in his yard at the time, so I didn't see the hummers. He simply refused to consider the possibility that they might in fact be two buff bellied hummingbirds, despite the facts that (1) buff bellied hummingbirds are reasonably common in Baton Rouge yards, (2) buff bellied hummingbirds resemble beryllines, and (3) there
has never been a documented berylline hummingbird anywhere near Baton Rouge.

Another time I was on an Audubon Society tour of good hummingbird locations in SE Louisiana (including several humnetters' gardens). While twenty of us, including several people with absolutely outstanding hummingbird ID skills who
never miss much of anything, were standing in Susie Nowell's yard waiting for a particular hummingbird to arrive, one of the trip participants told me he had just seen a magnificent hummingbird visit a corner of the yard. He was quite certain about his ID, refused to concede that he might be wrong, and when I would see him for years after that day he would tease me about missing it! While I suppose it is possible he did, in fact, catch the only glimpse of Louisiana's first and only Magnificent hummingbird in a yard full of other observers - a yard that was carefully watched for years before and after the
purported sighting - I think it is more likely that he saw something else, like a buff bellied hummingbird. He, I bet, is still sure of what he saw.

Ron Rovansek
Reno, NV

mark klym wrote:I think Van gave you the best advice possible Karen - insist that we need
> some documentation. I have a woman calling me regularly right now, from
> the Dallas area, that insists she has two Costa's in her yard. Did I
> mention that they are the same two Costa's that were there last year?
> Never did get any documentation on either reports!
>
> Mark Klym
> Bastrop, TX

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Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 09:32:35 -0700
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Possible Magnificent Hummer in Osoyoos BC Canada

>
>There was a possible Magnificent Hummer in Osoyoos BC
>Canada from August 7-14, 2002. And btw, Osoyoos is
>just about dead smack in the geographic middle of BC.
>
>The BC Interior Birding Listsev is now reporting that the bird has been
>identified via photos by both Kenn Kaufman and David Sibley as an Anna's
>Hummingbird.

Stacy/HUMNET: yet another classic example of our notoriously poor
ability to judge size (not just hummers but birds in general).
Although all reports of "big" hummingbirds should be checked out, I
personally wouldn't waste my time with them unless the observer is
reasonably experienced or the observer has convincing, side-by-side
comparisons with lots of our "regular" hummingbirds.

--
Van Remsen
najames@LSU.edu
LSU Museum of Natural Science
Foster Hall 119, LSU
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

===================================

Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 06:51:29 -0400
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Possible Magnificent Hummer in Osoyoos BC Canada

After the first two years of wasting 1000's of miles, I too have become a
bit more selective in when to jump in the van and go get 'em.  Learning to
ask the right questions of the observer is a big part of saving time and
miles.  Simply questions like "is this big hummer spotted looking and does
it have a woodpecker looking bill?" .

Never say never, but think first.

Bob Sargent