Who is Lanny Chambers?
Many people have written to ask about the hummingbird sightings on Journey North's migrations maps that are credited to Lanny Chambers. People ask, who is Lanny Chambers and are the sightings reliable?

Lanny is the creator of "hummingbirds.net" one of the web's most popular hummingbird sites. Since 1996, he has tracked ruby-throated hummingbird migration by collecting sightings from observers. The range and migration maps published in the Peterson Hummingbird Guide (by Sheri Williamson) are based largely on data from hummingbirds.net. Lanny has life-long experience with hummingbirds and knows them well. He is one of only about 100 people in the United States with a license to band hummingbirds.

Data-review Process
Lanny personally reviews all observations submitted to his website before they appear on his migration maps. He plots the sightings manually, and only includes those he believes are reliable. When a sighting is questionable, he contacts the observer for more information. If he is satisfied with the response, he addes the sighting to the map. If not, the sighting is discarded. Even though this review process is thorough, there is always the possibility that some sightings could be erroneous because photo documentation is not required.

Sharing Data with Journey North
Lanny generously forwards the sightings reported to his website so that Journey North's migration map will be more complete. We only include sightings that Lanny has vetted using the steps above.

Unusual Migration of March 2012
The year's highly unusual sightings seem to be correlated with the historic heat wave across the east.

"I'm satisfied that the maps on my site represent reality, and that this spring's incredible weather has indeed blown at least some of the Ruby-throated hummingbird population northward 3-4 weeks earlier than the historical average. Think about it--weeks with strong southerly winds and no cold fronts to make migrants pause. I've not seen the like since I started doing this in 1996. It's perhaps the equivalent of a 100-year flood."

This certainly seems to be a remarkable year for hummingbird migration!