For The Birders, Very Rare

Up Date on Calliope Humming Bird;

On Fri, 30 Nov 2018 02:42:43 +0000, Glenn Coady via ONTBIRDS
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Ontbirds subscribers,
>
>As we all have been fervently hoping, it would appear that the Calliope Hummingbird in Goderich has taken advantage of the period of calm and mild weather to initiate a resumption of its fall migration this morning. Here is today's update by local birder David Lavigne:
>
>"Just to update everyone...the Calliope appears to have departed at first light this morning. On Tuesday, Deb went to check on the bird and, during the time she was present, he concentrated on feeding on insects, visiting the sugar water only about once per hour. Yesterday, with snow in the air, Linda reports that the bird was back feeding at the feeders at regular intervals, and roosting under the heat lamp. On both days, the bird looked healthy and as feisty as it has thoughout its stay in Linda's backyard. Last night, it was observed in the roost, under the heat lamp, as has become his habit in recent days. This morning, Linda went out at about 7:15 to replace the feeder with a warm one. The bird was not in the roost (which has been its routine in recent days). What was different this morning was that the bird never showed up to feed again. Deb and I arrived early this afternoon to check on the bird only to meet Linda, still looking out for it. We stayed for another hour and a
>half...the bird never showed. I did a search of its usual roosts and found nothing. Today was a relatively nice day in Goderich. The temperature was around -1C...and there was very little wind. We even had sunshine for part of the day. We assume that the bird flew off of its own accord, which is what many of us had hoped for over the past few days. Despite what you may read on the Weather Channel, as I was driving back to our place in Goderich, I noticed that whatever wind we had was blowing from the Northeast...which would suggest that the Calliope had a bit of a tail wind, assuming it was headed to the south or southwest. Linda is going to leave the heat lamp in the roost, and a heated feeder, up for a few days, should the Calliope return. To summarize, Linda had two hummingbirds, one Ruby-throated and one Calliope, show up on 18 October...the Ruby-throated fattened up and departed about a week ago; given sole access to the feeders, the Calliope also fattened up and now seems to
>have departed on the best day of the week thus far."
>
>This is about the best outcome imaginable for this bird - let us hope it has re-oriented in a southerly direction to escape the oncoming icy grip of winter and given itself a chance to breed out west next spring.
>
>My profound thanks to Linda Johnston for her grace under pressure in providing salvation to this very lost little bird. Thank you for trusting in my counsel to try to forge a plan that would provide the best possible outcome for the bird as well as the province's birders. I hope the whole experience has provided a wonderful set of memories to last a lifetime.
>
>Thank you as well to the birders who make up our Ontario birding community - you were awesome ambassadors for our passion and you could not have made me more proud of your conduct and gratitude.
>
>All the best for the holiday season to everyone,
>
>Glenn Coady
>Whitby