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INSTITUTE FOR FIELD ORNITHOLOGY

2003 IFO Hummingbirds Workshop Report

25 July-1 August 2004 . Bisbee, Arizona
Instructors: Sheri L. Williamson and Tom Wood

The Institute for Field Ornithology's first Hummingbirds Workshop in southeastern Arizona was a great success by any measure. Not only did the group find thirteen species of hummingbirds plus two hybrid combinations, but by the end of the week's field work and classroom sessions most participants had gained a great deal of confidence in identifying some of the more confusing females and immature males. 

One of our first and most productive stops was Beatty's Miller Canyon Guest Ranch. The numbers of hummingbirds swarming around the dozens of feeders made it hard to pick just one to concentrate on, but an exquisite adult male White-eared Hummingbird elbowed his way through the crowds to feed just a few feet in front of the group. At Mary Jo Ballator's Ash Canyon Bed & Breakfast, an adult female Plain-capped Starthroat (back for her second summer) was a life bird for most and #701 for one participant, and the flashing purple "beard" of an adult male Lucifer Hummingbird drew gasps from his human admirers. Violet-crowned Hummingbirds were seen not only in their traditional location at Marion Paton's feeders in Patagonia but even more intimately at the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory's Banning Creek Field Station in the Mule Mountains. 

Non-hummingbirds - even a few non-birds - provided other memorable moments. High in the Chiricahua Mountains, a variety of breeding and migrating warblers joined noisy gangs of resident Mexican Chickadees and Pygmy Nuthatches in the towering firs and pines, and an adult Short-tailed Hawk cruised by the bus at window level as we wound our way back down the narrow mountain road. A Black Bear and a Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake were delightful surprises in Garden Canyon on Fort Huachuca, where the group also met the challenge of finding the image of a hummingbird among centuries-old pictographs. The finale was a hummingbird banding session on the San Pedro River, which gave participants an opportunity to assist in research, get a close-up view of some of the fine plumage details useful in identification, and make a personal connection by releasing newly banded birds.

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ABA Institute for Field Ornithology, ABA
4945 N 30th St, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80919
719/578-9703 x235 . fax 719/578-1480 . ifo@aba.org