Journey North Hummingbird Migration Spring 2010

Hummingbirds

Migration Update: February 17, 2010

Please Report
Your Sightings!

Visit a tropical farm in Costa Rica where 9 species of hummingbirds can be found, including our ruby throat. What do the wintering grounds have to offer these migrating birds? Some hummers have been sighted in the north. Why this is happening? Use your imagination: send a postcard home from the wintering grounds—before migration starts.

Today's Report Includes:

Maps, Highlights, and Questions
Explore: Hummingbirds on the Wintering Grounds
Report: Winter Hummer Sightings
Getting Started: This Week's Hummingbird Resources

Image of the Week

Credit: Google Maps
Each year, our migrating hummers spend the winter south of the border. What's it like? Explore

Highlights, Maps, and Questions

Highlights: Wandering Winter Hummingbirds?
Is something afoot with our hummingbirds? Red triangles on the map mean there have been hummingbird sightings in the winter! What's going on here? Let's think. It's still too early to see migrating ruby throats. (But stay tuned in the next week or two!) And rufous hummers are barely starting to migrate up the West Coast. What do citizen scientists have to say about their sighting reports?

Read these observations from Journey North's citizen scientists!

How can such tiny creatures survive far north of their normal wintering grounds? Why are so many hummers being reported out of their usual range? This week, we'll study the maps as we think about these questions.

Distribution Map

Rufous
Hummingbird

This Week's Map
Sightings

Ruby-throated
Hummingbird

This Week's Map
Sightings

Today's Hummingbird Map Questions (click-and-print handout)

Explore: Hummingbirds on the Wintering Grounds

Visit a farm in Costa Rica where ruby throats arrive in late October and stay until early March. Find out about the variety of tropical flowers that provide nectar for ruby-throated hummers during the winter months.

Slideshow: Hummingbirds on the Wintering Grounds

This area, close to the equator, is a great place to spend the winter if you're a hummingbird. The climate offers warm temperatures and an abundant source of food from tropical flowers and insects. We might consider it a perfect place for a winter vacation!

Try This:
Imagine YOU are a hummingbird writing home from your winter vacationland. Gather facts and pictures to write and illustrate a postcard to a feathered friend back home.

Postcard: "Wish You Were Here!"

Slideshow: Hummers on the Wintering Grounds

Try This: Send a postcard home!

Report Your Sightings: Seeing Winter Hummingbirds?

All hummingbirds do not go to Central America in the winter. Please help us document where hummingbirds are located this winter!

Please report your sightings

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
(map/sightings)

Rufous
Hummingbirds
(map/sightings)

Getting Started: This Week's Hummingbird Resources

Get to know hummingbirds by exploring these lessons and resources:

Explore: Meet Two Hummingbird Species: Which is Which? (slideshow)
Explore: Hummingbirds on the Wintering Grounds (slideshow)
Explore: Why Come Back North in the Spring? (slideshow)
Inquiry Tool: Making Sense of Unusual Findings
Hummingbird Migration Journals (click-and-print)
Hummingbirds for Kids (booklets, photos, videos)
Cool Hummingbird Facts: Questions Asked by Students, Answered by Experts
Teachers: Get Started with the Hummingbird Migration

Watch for and report any winter hummingbird sightings!
Credit: Sharon Forney

More Hummingbird Lessons and Teaching Ideas!

The Next Hummingbird Migration Update Will Be Posted on February 24, 2010.