I spoke with someone from Patuxent, and she couldn't tell me much, but referred me to a man named Bill Hilton jr. who founded "Operation Ruby-throat." He's in South Carolina, and does a lot of banding and research on Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

He said that it is shocking how little is known about hummingbirds, their population status, migration routes, or anything. Relatively few researchers band hummingbirds, and very few are ever recovered at any significant distance from where they were banded.

He agreed that it's entirely possible that in a species with such a large breeding range, there could be some areas where numbers are high, and other areas where they are low. It's entirely conceivable that hurricanes (especially lots of intense ones last summer and fall) could reduce numbers, not only from their direct effects on fall migration, but also by lingering destruction of habitat on the gulf coast during spring migration. Although the migration is spread over a number of weeks, it's possible that birds in a particular region, (or your own back yard!) might depart at the same time and all be wiped out by unfavorable conditions, whereas birds in western PA might have been spared.

Anyway, I pointed out in my previous post that numbers at a banding station in Western PA are at record highs this spring. Numbers in my yard seem good, and my feeders continue to get frequent visits. However, when I asked Bill about his banding totals in South Carolina, he said that in the 23 years he's been banding in South Carolina, this is the 4th or 5th worst year. Last year, by contrast, numbers were very high. This could indeed account for the discouragingly low numbers of birds seen by some people in the east this year as compared with last. This year would seem especially low given that last year was so unusually good. He did caution, however, that you have to make sure you're comparing the same time of year this year with last when deciding if your numbers are up or down. He said people often get discouraged when they make the mistake of comparing May and June numbers in the current year with August and September of the previous. This is misleading because numbers, especially at feeders, are higher later in the summer because of juveniles and southward migrators. You need to ask yourself, are numbers similar to this exact time last year? If you can't remember, keep notes this year so you can make an informed comparison next year.

I'm linking to one of his sites. There's a lot on it, and research projects that you can volunteer to participate in.

Here is a link that might be useful: Operation Ruby throat