The Texas Hummer, Spring 2000 Page: 2
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I \~\maTRANS-PECOS OBSERVER'S COMMENTS
NOTE FROMTHE TRANS-PECOS
Ihis year we received six
reports from Hummingbird
Roundup participants west of
the Pecos River. While these
numbers are very small for a
region so rich in hummingbird
diversity and so diverse in
hummingbird habitat, many
more packets were sent into
that region late in the year.
This holds a lot of promise for
the 2000 survey.
More than 50% of the
counties in the Trans-Pecos
were represented by these
6 observers! This is good
news in that the surveys fromthis region are not isolated or
skewed by urban concentra-
tion. Eight species were
observed in the region this
year by those observers, with
another four species observed
by the coordinator or TPW
biologists during visits to the
region. Notable among the
observations from the region
were Violet-crowned Hum-
mingbirds observed in Fort
Davis (first for Jeff Davis
County), Berylline Humming-
bird returning to the Fort
Davis area and a Broad-billed
Hummingbird reported early
in the season at Fort Davis.I he Avent Family of Jeff
Davis County reported observ-
ing female hummingbirds
fighting over snake cotton
(Froelichia sp.) to use in their
nests. I noticed that they did
not report finding a nest.
A good way to do so is to
actually follow a bird carrying
material for nesting.
in October, Melvin Walker
La-Follette of Presidio County
reported that he saw a Blue-
throated Hummingbird for
the first time since 1993.
He notes "I observed a large,
dark hummingbird perched in
an acacia shrub. She was
catching insects as they flew
by. Then, she had to reach f
or one. and left the perch,
displaying the unmistakable
tail with the huge, white
spots." This points out once
again that features other than
the gorget can help identify
hummingbirds.
i must apologize to
Mr. La-Follette for mistakingly
placing him in Brewster
County last year, see
Hummer, Spring 1999. He
was the observer who saw
the probable Berylline Hum-
mingbird mentioned last year.Babs Kneupper of Pecos
County pointed out one of
the reasons we are so inter-ested in this area of great
climatic and geographic diver-
sity. She observed a definite
pattern of birds reappearing
after significant rainfalls, and
disappearing during the dry
spells. The diverse habitats in
the Trans-Pecos region pro-
duce areas of dry weather
and other areas of heavy
rains at different times of the
year. Hopefully these can be
correlated with observation
data to help determine some
hummingbird behaviors.
The Zelazny Family of
Brewster County may have a
very interesting report. They
mention a juvenile RTHU at
their feeders in September
and October. This would be
noteworthy since it is consid-
erably out of traditional
RTHU habitat. While this
could be a wandering juve-
nile, a nesting Ruby-throated
Hummingbird in West Texas
would be noteworthy.
Dr. D. Kruzich of El Paso
County notes that apparently
those who have wintering
hummingbirds in El Paso are
in the mountain foothills. This
is one of the reasons we will
be asking people to describe
their habitat and those in the
Trans-Pecos to determine their
elevation above sea level.2
J
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Texas. Parks and Wildlife Department. Nongame and Urban Wildlife Program. The Texas Hummer, Spring 2000, periodical, May 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1588011/m1/2/: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.