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Audubon Members to Track Hummingbirds

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: November 3, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - West Pasco Audubon Society members are humming along with planning for a new project they will conduct this winter – tracing hummingbirds that winter here.

"This is the first time we tried it," Ken Tracey, president of the Audubon chapter here, said of the hummingbird count.

In preparation for the tally, some 30 hummingbird feeders have been set up at area parks and homes, so far. They are expected to start showing up in greater numbers this month, according to Tracey.

The project will be one of the topics discussed during today's monthly meeting, 3 p.m., at J.B. Starkey Wilderness Park, the 8,000-acre nature preserve north of the Seven Springs-Trinity area.

Hummingbirds can be hard to spot because they are so small, the Audubon president remarked. They are typically 4 to 5 inches in length.

Pasco residents only see ruby-throated hummingbirds in the summer months, Tracey explained. The small birds hunt for plants that produce nectar.

Many of the diminutive birds with high-speed wing motion then fly south to Mexico or South America for the winter.

However, other species of hummingbirds have become intrepid travelers of late, winging it all the way from Arizona, New Mexico or even California to winter in Florida, Tracey reports. They cross the Gulf of Mexico to come here instead of destinations farther south.

The black-chinned hummingbird is an example of the migrating bird to Florida. Rufous, or rust red, hummingbirds from California and the Southwest have been identified here as well, according to Tracey.

Go online to the West Pasco Audubon Web site for more information.

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