Hummingbird
News
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| Hummingbird
News |
Unexpected hummingbird visit stuns Hamburg couple White-
eared Mexican native arrives at family's feeder, draws 200 birders
Friday, September 2, 2005
BY LEANNE SMITH
News Staff Reporter
Ask birders which rare bird they think will show up next
in Michigan and it's likely none of them ever would say the
white-eared hummingbird.
Native to Mexico, this little bird with an emerald green
back, black-tipped red bill and prominent white ear stripe
is a rare vision even in Arizona, where it's known to
visit. It's been sighted east of the Mississippi River just
once and it's never been seen in Michigan.
That's why Melissa Pappas stopped dead in her tracks when
she thought she spotted one on a feeder in her Hamburg
Township yard on Aug. 18.
"It was a triple-take moment,'' she said.
She ran to get her husband, Jim, who shares her passion
for sighting birds and has been helping her keep lists of
all the ones they've seen for a dozen years.
"I said, 'Yeah, right, you're out of your mind,''' said
Jim Pappas, who went to get a camera and binoculars, just
in case.
After not quite believing his own eyes and checking out a
couple of field guides, Jim Pappas called a neighbor and
John Lowry of Hamburg Township, both of whom are avid
birders. The group decided it needed a professional
opinion.
That came from Allen Chartier of Inkster, a regional
hummingbird authority and director of Great Lakes
HummerNet, a Michigan hummingbird research project. After
voicing his own skepticism during a call from Jim Pappas,
Chartier confirmed it was a white-eared hummingbird when he
saw it for himself in the Pappas' yard the next day.
"That is probably one of the most bizarre birds to show
up
in Michigan ever,'' Chartier said. "Birds are migratory and
they get off track once in awhile, so things show up from
time to time that are unexpected. But the white-eared
hummingbird doesn't migrate much or if it does it only goes
very short distances.''
Jim Pappas posted their find on Mich-listers, an e-mail
system subscribed to by those into bird listing.