Rufus Hummingbird Remains at Mead

I have been returning to Mead Garden after my Sunday bird banding session for several weeks in hopes of relocating the Rufus Hummingbird. I have missed it for the past month! I met up with Marcus and we sat in wait. I had to head out sooner than usual so I was about to take off. At least I could try for a shot of the adult Red-shouldered Hawk quickly circling past us.



I stood to leave and suddenly Marcus shouted, "There she is!". She was only at the feeder for a couple seconds but I caught a glimpse of here behind the low flowers. Can you spot her?



She slowly made her way around to our side but was in deep shade. I could not get any really good shots and I had to process these pretty hard to get any image at all. However, you can see more of the rufus coloring down the side of the bird.



One shot shows the gorget just before she took off. She landed in a tree and the sunlight really brought that patch to light. The wind was really picking up so all we could do was look through our binoculars and couldn't get a clear shot.



Whew. Finally got my sighting for the new year. Who knows how long she will stick around. It has been since October so far.

The Great Backyard Bird Count for 2013 is February 15-18th.
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