Very interesting to read past adventures of all, Kerry, Virginia & Karen, in the biological sciences from Univ days. Texas was a great place for university birding field trips in those days: Big Bend, High Island, Valley, Hill Country. I remember stepping out of the university van at Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge & seeing about a dozen new birds, for me,  just at the parking lot, lol! Thread prompted me to go back to my notes: highlight was seeing, in a single oak tree at same time, at Smith Woods, High Island: Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Brewster’s & Lawrence’s Warblers, amongst numerous others. April 21, 1979, day & age when there would be a fall-out of literally 100s of warblers, vireos, orioles, etc upon crossing the Gulf. 

Has provided for years of enjoyment, watching feathered friends. Here’s photo of one of the male Rufous from today. 

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot

Thanks for sharing your adventures! 70s were a great time to be in a university setting, esp if interested in biological sciences. I hope that opportunities to be a field assistant still exist, but given the costs associated with advanced education now, worry it’s not the same as used to be. Has even changed, dramatically, from the past 12-15 yrs when our kids got their degrees.

Also, guess my post was a bit early, as just had 2 adult male Rufous Hummingbirds back at the feeder. Took their time to show up today. So, still passing through. 

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot 

Yes, the Owyhee County eBird filter goes from zero on 29 June to ten on 30 June to accommodate the arrival of southbound migrants, though that transition could probably be pushed a few days earlier.  Rufous aren’t generally known/expected to breed in the Great Basin or in Idaho south of the Snake River Plain, but southbound migrants can be expected throughly the interior west (south to e.g., places like Arizona, New Mexico, and the Big Bend region of Texas) by the end of June.  Why arrival dates are often later at individual sites (Brian and Aidan’s homes, for example) I’m not sure, but the earlier migrants may stick largely to the mountains with others spilling over into the valleys later.  It could also be correlated with age, as those migrating in June are expected to be mostly adult males.  Brian, when yours arrive in force in August, are you still seeing males or mostly females and juveniles?

Interesting how our lives evolve through happen-stance, at times. I ended up in Antarctica because my ornithology professor from Kalamazoo College in 1972 made a movie about the birds of New Zealand. The only way I could afford a trip there was to work in the Antarctic. Then I fell in love with the Ice and got to bird in New Zealand coming and going during the four seasons I worked there. Life is full of odd, yet wonderful twists and turns, no? Thanks for sharing one of yours.

Hello everyone!

Yes, there were quite a few Rufus Hummingbirds at Silver City a couple of days ago. For some reason, only the first checklist I submitted flagged Rufus as rare, but later checklists weren’t flagged. (https://ebird.org/checklist/S143551556) There were several very orange adult males being extremely territorial about their feeders and chasing off any intruders. Twice I even had an immature Rufus fly right in front of me, because the external microphone on my tripod has red accents…. 😀

I’m not sure how the whole Rufus migration works, but I do know there are quite a few of them present from late June through July at Silver City! I think they were the most abundant hummer present a few days ago. 😀

Generally I don’t see Rufus at my house in Caldwell until mid July at the earliest, and usually it is the beginning of August before they start rolling through. I usually only see immature birds at the end of the summer.

Thank you everyone for an interesting discussion! 😀

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Aidan Lorenz
Caldwell