Winter Banding
Banding of vagrant winter hummingbirds is a tool to a better understanding of hummingbird behavior. Conventional wisdom was that the only hummingbird in the eastern U.S. was the ruby-throated, and they all migrated to the tropics in the winter. Between November and March, three hummingbird banders working in the Southeastern US banded 289 hummingbirds of 6 species in 2013-14. The important work of banders allows us to learn more about hummingbird migration and to monitor visiting vagrants.

"Yesterday Fred Basssett from the hummingbird research came out and was able to band one of them, even got to hold her for a moment while he took a picture of her."
Helen Perry, 01/20/15 Spring Hill, Florida

Helen Perry