Late

Late/Last Sightings Reported 2004

(Discussion below)

State	Day	Month	Town	further loc		ad males	fem/juvs	sex/age not rep	Observer

CT	15	8	Mansfield Center			ad male			Rebecca Dauer
	30	8	Southington			ad male			Jayne Amico
	25	9	Mansfield Center				f/j		Rebecca Dauer

RI	1	9	Little Compton		ad male				Geoff Dennis
	19	9	Block Island					nr	RI RBA 9/23
	11	10	Little Compton				f/j		Geoff Dennis
	11	10	Jamestown					nr	Candace Powell-FN
	25	12	Tiverton				imm f		FieldNotesRI Birds*

MA	7	8	Westport	Bristol		ad male			Elizabeth Santos
	9	8	Cotuit	Barnstable		ad male			Janet Leigh
	11	8	Wayland	Middlesex		ad male			Barbara Howell
	21	8	Granby	Hampshire		ad male			Bill Benner
	24	8	Newbury	Essex		ad male			Sharon Stichter
	24	8	Deerfield	Franklin		ad male			Rob Ranney
	27	8	Ipswich	Essex		ad male			Sissy Ffolliott
	27	8	New Salem	Franklin		ad male			Sue Cloutier
	28	8	Bradford	Essex		ad male			David Larson
	29	8	Acton	Middlesex		ad male			Barbara Schmitz
	1	9	Hinsdale	Berkshire		ad male			Lynne Roberson
	1	9	Westport	Bristol			f/j		Elizabeth Santos
	1	9	Stow	Middlesex		ad male			Bill Howell
	2	9	Wayland	Middlesex		ad male			John Hoye
	2	9	Tyringham	Berkshire		ad male			Dottie Naventi
	2	9	New Salem	S.Main St.			f/j		Sue Cloutier
	3	9	Granby	Hampshire			f/j		Bill Benner
	3	9	Acton	Middlesex			f/j		Barbara Schmitz
	3	9	Harwichport	Barnstable				nr	Barbara Stanton
	7	9	Ipswich	Essex			f/j		Sissy Ffolliott
	7	9	Dennis	Barnstable		ad male			Susan Baudanza
	10	9	Cotuit	Barnstable			f/j		Janet Leigh
	12	9	Leicester	Worcester		ad male			Mark W. Rowden
	12	9	Acton	Middlesex			f/j		Peter/Beth Norton
	12	9	Bradford	Essex			j		David Larson
	13	9	Hinsdale	Berkshire			f/j		Lynne Roberson
	14	9	Nahant	Essex			f/j		Dorothy Saffarewich
	15	9	Boxford	Essex			f/j		Kathryn Disney
	17	9	Plymouth	Plymouth			f/j		Dan Gorman
	18	9	Fairhaven	Bristol			f/j		Avis Perry
	19	9	Falmouth	Barnstable			f/j		Martha Tarafa
	19	9	Wayland	Middlesex			f/j		Barbara Howell
	19	9	Stow	Middlesex			f/j		Bill Howell
	20	9	So Hadley	Hampshire			f/j		Anthony Hill
	21	9	Deerfield	Franklin			f/j		Rob Ranney
	21	9	So Dartmouth	Bristol			f/j		Dick Sherwood
	27	9	Tyringham	Berkshire			f/j		Dottie Naventi
	1	10	Dennis	Barnstable			f/j		Susan Baudanza
	2	10	Florence	Hampshire			f/j		Tom Gagnon
	8	10	Newbury	Essex			f/j		Joe Stichter
	11	10	Leicester	Worcester			f/j		Mark W. Rowden

ME	10	8	Ellsworth			ad male			David Farner
	14	8	Lubec	Boot Cove		ad male			D&J Pressley
	22	8	Rangeley	Quimby Pond		ad male			Mary Peterson
	29	8	Rangeley	Quimby Pond			f/j		Mary Peterson
	31	8	Raymond				f/j		Sheliah Shanahan
	1	9	Lincolnville			ad male			Peter Darling
	1	9	SandyRiverPlantation			ad male			Don Herbert
	1	9	Porter				f/j		Janelle Stone
	1	9	West Kennebunk			ad male			Sharon
	1	9	Petit MananNWR	on the point				nr	Richard Hildreth
	2	9	Wilton			ad male			J Dwight
	4	9	Steuben				f/j		Richard Hildreth
	10	9	Ellsworth				f/j		David Farner
	10	9	Bancroft				f/j		Mary Robinson
	11	9	Hollis				f/j		Paul Garrity
	13	9	Bar Harbor					nr	Wm Townsend
	13	9	FrenchmanBay	mouth of the bay				nr-5	Wm Townsend
	13	9	Mt Desert Island	21 mi so-at sea				nr	Wm Townsend
	15	9	Frenchman Bay	mouth of the bay				nr	MaineBird Alert
	17	9	Talmadge				f/j		Robin Follette
	18	9	SandyRiverPlantation				f/j		Don Herbert
	19	9	Lincolnville				f/j		Peter Darling
	19	9	Roque Bluffs				f/j		Carol
	19	9	Lubec	Boot Cove			f/j		D&J Pressley
	20	9	North Haven					nr-2	Terry Sprague
	21	9	Monhegan Island					nr-3	Louis Bevier
	24	9	Monhegan Island					nr-3	Marshall Iliff
	21	9	Raymond				f/j		Sheliah Shanahan
	22	9	South Unity				f/j		Diana Davis
	23	9	Windham				f/j		Erik Eklund
	29	9	Phippsburg					nr	Judith Walker
	29	9	North Haven				f/j		Terry Sprague


NH	25	7	Antrim		ad male				Doris/Joe Borges
	24	8	Rumney		ad male				John R. Williams
	26	8	New Durham		ad male				Dan Monahan
	28	8	Loudon		ad male-2				Bill Baird
	29	8	Errol		ad male				Lisa
	30	8	Raymond		ad male				Rachel Edwards
	5	9	Antrim				f/j		Doris/Joe Borges
	6	9	Londonderry				f/j		Tom Murray
	7	9	Nottingham				f/j		Linda Jordan
	9	9	Raymond				f/j		Rachel Edwards
	12	9	New Durham	Strafford			f/j		Dan Monahan
	13	9	Rumney				f/j		John R. Williams
	17	9	Windham				f/j		phil arrigo
	18	9	Errol				f/j		Kathy Dube
	22	9	Tamworth	White Mtns			f/j		Cathy Baybutt
	23	9	Northwood	Lucas Pond			f/j		Debbie Stahre
	25	9	Concord	Locke Rd/fields				nr	Mark Suomala
	26	9	Hampton	Boar's Head				nr	JoAnn O'Shaughnessy


NS	12	9	White Point	Nova Scotia			f/j		David Farner


VT	6	9	Waitsfield		ad male				Catherine Amstutz
	6	9	Windham				f/j		W. Townshend
	7	9	Waitsfield				f/j		Catherine Amstutz
	13	9	Brownsville				f/j		Marcia Baker

nr= sex and age not reported; f/j = female or juvenile Data are provisional; subject to revision.

*According to Field Notes of Rhode Island Birds, Oct-Nov and Dec-Jan, this immature female remained at a Tiverton feeder from Nov. 11 through Dec. 25. It was "unambiguously" photographed by Geoff Dennis. This exceeds the previous Rhode Island late date of 11/16/57, involving a bird found torpid in Newport. To New Hummers' knowledge, this is also a late date for Ruby-throats in New England as a whole. G. Dennis' photo of the bird appears in North American Birds, Vol 59: No. 2, 2005, p. 239, where Pam Hunt calls it "a first winter record for the region."

DISCUSSION

These reports come mainly from the "Last Sightings" reported by NE Hummers Site Monitors from their yards and feeders. Other non-yard reports are late field sightings reported on the maine-birding, NHBirds, RI Birds, Field Notes of RI Birds, and Massbird listserves.

Aside from the very unusual December bird in Tiverton, RI, the latest reported sightings of Ruby-throats in New England were on October 11 this year, which is quite a late date. Three observers reported sightings that day, Candace Powell in Jamestown, RI, Geoff Dennis in Little Compton, RI, and Mark Rowden in Leicester, MA. The next latest sightings were on 10/08 by Joe Stichter in Newbury, MA, 10/02 by Tom Gagnon in Florence, MA, and 10/01 by Sue Baudanza in Dennis, MA. There was no suggestion that any of these were other than Ruby-throateds; no Selasphorus or other vagrant hummingbirds were being reported in early October.

The latest reported sightings of adult males were on 9/12 in Leicester, MA; 9/7 in Dennis, MA (Cape Cod); and 9/6 in Waitsfield, VT. Also late were 9/2 in Wilton, ME; Tyringham, MA; and Wayland, MA; and 9/1 in W. Kennebunk, ME; Sandy River Plantation, ME; Lincolnville, ME; Stow, MA; Hinsdale, MA; and Little Compton, RI. A good number of the "last sightings" of males came about September 1 or 2.

Many reports of migrating hummers or "last sightings" along the coast of Maine came between September 13 and 23. The Maine Rare Bird Alert for 9/17 reported that "Five to ten hummingbirds pass over the boat at the mouth of Frenchman Bay daily." Bill Sheehan in Aroostook County reported for the week of 9/22-28 that there were no hummingbirds left in his area that week.

Last sightings of females and juveniles in MA, NH and ME yards begin about August 29 and continue through the end of September. Two Site Monitors in MA reported that the juveniles left their yards a few days before the adult females.

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