on my way to fish today I encountered some biologists trapping, measuring, banding and releasing hummingbirds. It was very cool. They even let me hold and release one. Now that I’m an expert I can tell you that this one weighed in at 2.5 grams, or about the weight of a penny, was male, and was banded a few weeks ago, trapped again today.
I love hummingbirds. If they hang around your feeder, then they give a much better show than TV usually does. They are beautiful little gems on the wing. I just wish that I could get the local ones to molt in one place so that I could use their feathers to tye/tie flies with.
Looks like a Calliope. We are suppose to have Rufous and Ruby-throated here in Florida among others but I’ve only seen Rubies here (when I lived in West Central Florida). I did see a Cuban hummingbird once (a rarity, I forget the name without my birdbook 
but it is supposed to be the smallest in world). We are out of the hummingbird migratory paths in Highlands County where I live now so we get very few in this county.
[url=http://www.hummingbirds.net/calliope.html:83126]Calliope[/url:83126]
Really nice photo 
Aha! That site did list the Cuban hummingbird name under Listing by State/Province for Florida. Its called a Cuban Emerald.
[url=http://www.hummingbirds.net/states.html:83126]http://www.hummingbirds.net/states.html[/url:83126]
Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL
“Flip a fly”
[This message has been edited by dixieangler (edited 16 June 2006).]
Hey Benjo,
Very, Very, cool photo!
Thanks for sharing it.
akalooker
tks. Ben, we are feeding about a pint of ‘juice’ a day to ours here.
That is so cool.
At a local state park concession stand they have feeders and boatloads of humming birds. If you stand real still they buzz by you and you can feel the wind from thier wings.
I love those little buggers. I’m jellious you got to hold one!!!
Dennis
We feed the little critters here too, they can really go through the juice. I had the good fortune to stumble upon a nest one season while fishing the Molalla river. It was head high on the branch of a yew that had lichen and moss on it. The nest resembled the lichen and was the same color and texture. The little eggs were the size of #2 buckshot and there four of them in the nest. I left it soon after and watched the parent return to their nest. Amazing little guys.
Benjo, what impresses me most are how clean your fingers are in the blow up picture!!! Seriously though that is a great shot and a great little event to look back on. You could probably feel his little heart beatingand I can just read his little mind as though there were a ‘bubble’ over him…“I hope this guy practices catch and release!”…Thanks for sharing!..Bob
hope you were able to surreptisiously snag a few feathers!
Jack Hise and I will be surreptisiously downing a couple Kalamazoo Ales at the Michigan Fish-In. Can you imagine plucking little flank feathers off that little guy?
An extremely irritated male broadtail hummer, rescued from my house today. I’m now up to 1/2 gallon a day feeding them (severe drought this year, few wildflowers), and will be up to a gallon when the rufous and calliope birds get here next month. He was the loser in an aerial dogfight that ended amongst my living room flowers, the victor dashed right back outside.
His beak is open in mid-squawk – what a hummingbird squawk lacks in volume is made up for in pure orneriness.
DANBOB
There was a variety when I lived in Ventura, Ca that had the loudest shriek of any bird I have ever heard. It took me some time to determine what beast was actually making that noise. Probably a female.
Benjo,
You have taken catch and release to a new level. Love the pics. Way cool, man!
Eric “nighthawk”
American veteran and proud of it!