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Posted by John Boyd on 10:17:37 09/27/04
In Reply to: All present and accounted for, SUH! posted by Paul
Most RT Hummers migrate via Texas in the fall, wintering mostly in Mexico and Central America through Costa Rica. A small number winter in south Florida, where they rely on native plants and in coastal areas in the SE US where they rely heavily on feeders. They don't winter in the Caymans, or Haiti, or western Cuba, nor do they normally migrate through there in fall (Birds of Cuba mentions only 1 date, presumably meaning 1 sighting, of a RT Hummer in fall).
Here in Miami there are plenty of flowers for them to feed on.
In spring many are trans-Gulf migrants, flying across the Gulf of Mexico.
: Tell your hummers to stock up on protein and fats they may have to go a far piece without food. And that could be a good research project. Nectar feeding birds have to go the entire length of Florida, (assume the East Coast) with little hope of finding the flower supply of years past. Then they hit western Cuba with less chance of success, so on to where the Cayman Island used to be, maybe divert to Haiti--bad choice. Might be a very bad year for hummer survival.
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