Wayward Hummingbird Tends to make Alone at Home at Environmentally friendly Spring Gardens

A hummingbird species that ordinarily can make its house in the western part of the United States has been drawing birders and photographers to the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Inexperienced Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia. A chook bander credentialed by the U.S. Geological Study has con-firmed that a woman Rufous hummingbird has produced its way to Virginia.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services mentioned the Rufous hummingbird is amazing mainly because of the excellent distances it can migrate from wintering grounds as far south as Mexico to breeding grounds as significantly north as Alaska, but the migration route is generally together the West Coast. The chook that took a lengthy detour to Environmentally friendly Spring Gardens is described as an immediately after hatch-yr female with five colourful gorget (throat) feathers.

At the banding on Jan. 13, 2021, the very small bird experienced a wing length of 43.69 millimeters and a tail size of 27 millimeters. The width of its outermost tail feather was 3.96 millimeters, and it had a culmen, or bill, size of 17.86 millimeters. For reference, there are about 25 millimeters in an inch. The hummingbird weighed just 3.4 grams, the bodyweight of about 3 1/2 paper clips. For birding enthusiasts, in this article are a handful of other figures:

• Grooving on monthly bill:
• Body fat: (on scale of -3)
• Wing molt: Primaries #1-4 replaced, primary #5 missing, primaries #6-10 unmolted
• Body molt: Approximately 50% of back feathers had been changed

It is strange to see any hummingbirds in our region at this time of calendar year, and park patrons who want to see the Rufous hummingbird are cautioned to retain their distance in buy to keep from horrifying this unusual visitor away. Park personnel will proceed to provide nectar feeders in the course of the winter season months and anticipate that the fowl will remain in the gardens for the remainder of the time.

Environmentally friendly Spring Gardens is positioned at 4603 Environmentally friendly Spring Road, Alexandria, Virginia. For much more details, connect with 703-642-5173 or stop by Eco-friendly Spring Gardens.