Christmas Wish: an Allen's Hummingbird

Today many of Ohio's birding community have written on the top of their Christmas wish list, the hope Ohio Bird Records Committee will accept the Allen's Hummingbird in now being seen in Sugarcreek as Ohio's first Allen's!



Here is our hummingbird visitor from the west, as in California. Our normal fall hummingbird (if there is such a thing) is the Rufous which is found in the great Northwest- Oregon and Washington state. Allen's was occasionally suspected but never before recorded, until this one was banded and IDed by Allen Chartier, Michigan's far traveling expert on hummingbirds. Nine of our GMAS members witnessed this fall/winter rarity, and this hummingbird is bound to make a huge stir! For more info on hummingbirds see Scott Weidensaul’s blog .




The GMAS group started the day's good karma by taking this group of kids birding on our walk at Malabar Farm. Yup, that is the ol' blockhead himself, Charlie Brown. His little sister Sally liked the Eagle Optics I let her borrow, and hopes to find a pair in her stocking!





After our birdwalk and Christmas party, we detoured through Funk Bottoms on the way to see the Allen's hummingbird. Su Snyder had scouted out this group of over 100 cranes in the distance, enabling us to see both extremes of Ohio's December birds: Sandhill Cranes and Allen's hummingbird. That is really the long to the short of it!

And here is our happy group claiming two "life"-birds in one day: Jean Taddie, John Precup, Marcia Kinnard, and Jan and Gary Kennedy. This is my favorite way to spend a day, birding and enjoying good friends!

No wonder we like to say, " GMAS- it is good birding and a whole lot more!"