6-B-03 Comments by S. Peterson

The Anna's Hummingbird report from 14 June - 14 July 2003 submitted by Fred Zeillemaker has received a vote of 6 accept, 1 reject on the first round, with the dissenting vote containing comments regarding questions about timing. As a hummingbird researcher with experience with Anna's in Idaho and elsewhere in the West, I'd like to offer my comments on this record now that it has gone through one round with less than unanimous support.

Before I address the question of timing, I would like to comment on what appears to be a very misleading conception among people trying to identify female-type hummingbirds. And that misconception is that a white dot around the eye actually means anything. A white dot behind the eye is a highly variable feature that shows up reguarly in a number of female-type hummingbirds. Unfortunately a few key field guides tend to illustrate this as an actual field mark, and they probably shouldn't. White dots behind the eye contain limited weight to me.

On the other hand, Calliope Hummingbirds often show a white dot in FRONT of the eye -- at the base of the bill -- and it appears that this may indeed be a supportive mark for this species, although I would hesitate to claim that it's presence or absence alone is indicative. Hummingbird identification should rely on a list of features and rarely on a single identifying feature alone.

As for timing of Anna's Hummingbirds -- remember that this species nests extremely early in parts of it's range. Nests in November and December in the southwestern USA are common, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they nest very early after the New Year even in areas like Seattle. A post-breeding wanderer, or perhaps an adult female that didn't nest, would not be out of the question in June or July.

I strongly suspect there are many more immature / female-type Anna's Hummingbirds in Idaho in summer than we realize -- they are just diluted by the vast quantities of expected species moving through and remain undetected by the plethora of hummingbird afficianados who lack the skill to distinguish the female-types from each other. I don't believe Fred Zeillemaker falls into that category; hence we have a report from June and July....

The reason I believe so many fall records exist is that people notice a hummingbird that "did not migrate" -- and then report it to those of us who study hummingbirds. That happened in Idaho in 2004 when I actively attempted to band and document delayed hummingbirds in the southwestern portion of the state. A few turned out to be Anna's whose arrival dates were not known with any certainty because there "always was at least one hummingbird around and this one didn't leave..."

Prior to the current summer report in question, there are other reports from that season -- check out the Review Species tally for this species here. Note that there is a May 18 record from Bonner County (Shirley's database), and a July 16 record from Canyon County (published in American Birds). The BNA account for this species suggests that Anna's may begin migrating in parts of their southern range in June, with altitudinal and south and eastward migrations being employed by certain populations. Very little appears to be published from the relatively recent populations of the Pacific Northwest, from which our birds may likely arise.

And for the record, I believe the photos submitted by Zeillemaker do show an adult female Anna's Hummingbird. The scanned images available online are admittedly of poorer quality than the copies he mailed to me privately in 2003 -- back before I was involved in IBRC. At that time he wanted further support of his identification, which was easy to provide with the in-hand photos (relative width of inner and outer primaries is a key feature in distinguishing between Calypte [Anna's / Costa's] and Archilochus [Ruby-throated / Black-chinned] hummingbirds -- and these features were easier to see in the originals I received, which I unfortunately did not keep. It is still visible enough in the lower left photo in the online composite associated with this record.). Since the identification didn't seem to be in question for the first round of voting, I won't go into further detail here.

-- Stacy Peterson
Eagle River, Alaska
7 June 2007