Greetings... I thought this might be of interest to the list. Someone sent 
along a note to the Michigan birds list serve asking what benefits might be 
derived from banding vagrant hummingbirds--in this instance, the issue 
revolved around the white-eared hummingbird that was near Ann Arbor last 
week. This bird was scheduled to be banded yesterday morning, but my 
understanding is that it hasn't been seen since early Saturday morning. 
Allen Chartier, who bands hummingbirds in Michigan, Ohio, and the northern 
half of Indiana, wrote an interesting reply. First, the question to which 
Chartier is responding, followed by Chartier's response:

Question: "The WEHU [this is a reference to a white-eared hummingbird that 
visited Colorado some time ago] ended up staying into August but it did 
leave the house where it was banded and went back to the original house that 
it was found at. It came back a
few times after being banded but never returned to the same feeder that it 
was
caught at. I would highly recommend people trying to see the bird before 
there
is a banding attempt on the bird.

 I personally do not band but I do not have any real feeling one way or the
other about it. There is great data to be had from banding but nobody has 
been
able to give me a good reason to band extralimitary birds. So, if you know 
who
is banding the bird and they can answer that question (with an answer that 
is
meaningful) I would greatly appreciate some feedback."

Here is Allen Chartier's reply:

"Subject: Re: Fw: CO WEHU
From: "Allen Chartier" <amazilia1 AT comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 15:57:34 -0400

Cathy and others,

Thanks for forwarding this. I have four hummingbird feeders in my yard, and 
I
trap them on a rotation so that they don't get too used to it at one feeder. 
It
is true that SOME individual hummingbirds may avoid visiting a feeder where 
it
was trapped, and certainly SOME hummingbirds are more difficult to trap in a
subsequent year, so different trapping methods must be employed. They're 
pretty
smart! But, with multiple feeders at a site, I fail to understand how this 
can
be a serious problem, especially since natural sources provide much more of
their daily food intake than our feeders do.

Regarding the value of banding vagrant hummingbirds, I could write a very
lengthy reply, but unfortunately I'm pressed for time. With vagrants, if 
there
is a second record in our region for this White-eared Hummingbird, there 
will
be a natural question of whether it is the same one or not. Also, if the 
bird
heads back southwest (which it may not), it may be recaptured in Arizona in 
a
subsequent year. Banding this bird, and having it recaptured somewhere, 
would
allow us to learn something about these birds, albeit with a single tiny 
data
point.

While a confirmed identification is a side result of banding a vagrant
hummingbird, which benefits the birding community, and state records
committees, it is not the primary purpose for banding them. I think it is 
fair
to say that in the past 20 years we've learned more about the wintering 
habits,
population cycles, molts, etc., of Rufous Hummingbirds as a result of 
banding
vagrants in the east and Gulf States than we may ever learn from their core
wintering grounds in central Mexico. Pioneers like Nancy Newfield and Bob
Sargent have each been pursuing this specifically for the past 20 years or 
so
in the Gulf States, and they have contributed extensively to the 
ornithological
literature on these birds, having banded hundreds of them. Those of us who 
are
just getting started, covering new territories, have some good groundwork to
begin with thanks to Newfield, Sargent, and others, but we may find (as I 
am)
that age/sex ratios, molt schedules, and other aspects of their biology and
movements might be somewhat different in more northern regions.

Typically, a passerine bander can expect to have about 1 in 1000 of their 
birds
recaptured. Amazingly, of the 25 Rufous Hummingbirds I've handled in the 
past 5
years in MI, OH, IN, and ON, five (1 in 5) have been banded already! We're
getting good data from banding vagrant hummingbirds, even in our more 
northern
locales. Last year, for example, a Rufous Hummingbird that I banded near
Indianapolis, IN in early September immediately departed (the only one that
ever has), but was recaptured the following January in Louisiana by Nancy
Newfield. Believe it or not, this was the first confirmed point to point
recapture to suggest that the Rufous Hummingbirds wintering in the Gulf 
States
get there by a more northerly route, rather than by some other route(s) that
have been proposed.

There is more, of course, but you'll have to be the judge of whether this 
short
answer is meaningful.

Allen Chartier
amazilia1 AT comcast.net
1442 West River Park Drive
Inkster, MI  48141
Website: http://www.amazilia.net
Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet"

There are some tidbits about Selasphorus migration habits and photos of 
rufous hummingbirds that Chartier banded last fall in southeast Ohio, as 
well as links to other Selasphorus hummingbird-related articles, at this 
link:
http://www.ohiobirds.org/news.php?News_ID=145

Hopefully we'll have a few more rufous hummers locally this fall and winter.

Take care,
---Mike Busam
West Chester, OH