Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!oliveb!oliven!mjm
From: mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Bird watching & rec.birds
Keywords: birding, bird-watching
Message-ID: <45969@oliveb.olivetti.com>
Date: 3 Aug 89 19:11:46 GMT
References: <8863@cs.Buffalo.EDU> <390@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
Sender: news@oliveb.olivetti.com
Lines: 37

In article <390@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>, geek@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Chris Schmandt) writes:
 > 
 > Well, one of my favorite topics is range expansion (range decline is all
 > too common!).    Like the mockingbird, which now winters over here (Boston),
 > yet back in Mark Twain's day was referred to as the "catbird of the south".
 > 

	Another bird that seems to be going through a range expansion is
the Anna's Hummingbird. They've spread all the way up the west coast to
Canada and east across the southwest to, at least, Arizona (and probably
points beyond). I remember sitting at the hummingbird feeders in Ramsey
Canyon in southeastern Arizona last year. The most common hummer there 
was the Anna's; in a place where, not too many years ago, they were rare.

	Some months ago I read a story in one of the birding periodicals
that theorized that the range expansion of the Anna's Hummingbird was the
cause of the myth that one must take down their feeder to force hummers
to migrate.

	According to the story, a severe drought hit southern California
to where, at the time (I don't remember how long ago this was supposed to be)
the Anna's Hummingbird was limited. The search for water up the coast of
California was supposed to represent the first major expansion of this
species' range. Being non-migratory, these birds took up permanent residence
in their new homes. People in these areas, who were used to feeding breeding
and migrating hummingbirds, started noticing these hummers hanging around 
their feeders all winter long. Not knowing the habits of these non-migratory
birds, but being well-intentioned, they decided that the presence of their
feeders was causing these birds to stay in the area rather than migrate.
Thus began the idea that feeders must be removed to force hummers to
migrate; an idea that quickly spread across the country.

	I can't attest to the truthfulness of this story (it was offered
only as a theory; there being no direct sequence of events that this myth
can be traced to), but here it is for your interest.

Mike