Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts
Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)
Abundance: Very Uncommon (12 records in 5 Tennessee counties).
Status: Winter Resident; banding records; photographs (see links below).
Regional High Count: 2 (many dates from December 2003 to early April 2004; Putnam County, Tennessee; Stan Hood).
Information on Records:
22 December 2001 (1--adult female) Oliver Springs, Morgan County, Tennessee (fide Chris Sloan; Sloan 2001), banded (22 December 2001, Portia McMillan, Chris Sloan).
October 2003-12 January 2004 (1--immature female) Cowan Rd., Putnam County, Tennessee (Mary Bennett, Stephen J. Stedman photo, m. ob.), banded (22 November 2003, Portia McMillan, Chris Sloan); photo (5 January 2004, Stephen J. Stedman); CBC record.
Late fall 2003-8 April 2004 (2--1 immature female and 1 probable adult female) Aspen Dr., Putnam County, Tennessee (Stan Hood photo, m. ob., unpublished data), both banded (31 January 2004, Portia McMillan, Chris Sloan), photo; CBC record (only 1 of 2 noted on the 2003 Cookeville CBC).
7 October 2004-17 March 2005 (1--adult female) Aspen Dr., Putnam County, Tennessee (Stan Hood photo and unpubl. data), banded (18 November 2004, Martha Sargent, Robert Sargent); photo (2 November 2004, Stan Hood); CBC record; GBBC record.
26 November 2004-13 March 2005 (1--adult male) Hurricane Ridge Rd., DeKalb County, Tennessee (Tommy L. Curtis photo and unpubl. data, Virginia Curtis, Carol D. Williams photo), photos ( 4 December 2004, Richard Connors); CBC record.
C. 1 October-20 December 2005 (1--adult female) Lovelady, Pickett County, Tennessee (Robbie C. Hassler unpubl. data), banded (22 October 2005, Chris Sloan).
8 November 2005-30 March 2006 (1--immature male) Aspen Dr., Putnam County, Tennessee (Stan Hood photo [8 November 2005], photo [30 March 2006], and unpubl. data), banded (10 December 2005, Chris Sloan); CBC (count period only) record; and GBBC record.
Mid-October 2006-6 March 2007 (1--adult female) Creed Rd., northern Van Buren County, Tennessee (Jacquie Wagner, Bill Wagner, Stephen J. Stedman, Douglas A. Downs unpubl. data), banded (11 December 2006, Mark Armstrong).
17 August 2007-19 April 2008 (1--adult female) Creed Rd., northern Van Buren County, Tennessee (Jacquie Wagner video, Bill Wagner unpubl. data); captured 30 November 2007 (Mark Armstrong) and confirmed to be the same adult female that was banded at this site 11 December 2006 (Mark Armstrong); it was probably also present at the same site during the winter of 2005-2006 when an unidentified hummingbird was present (Jacquie Wagner pers. com.).
12 August 2008-22 April 2009 (1--previously banded adult female returning for at least the third consecutive winter) Creed Rd., northern Van Buren County, Tennessee (Bill Wagner [first and later dates], Jacquie Wagner [not on first date but on later dates] unpubl. data); recaptured and band verified (6 November 2008, Mark Armstrong).
15 September 2008-23 March 2009 (1--adult male) Aspen Dr., Putnam County, Tennessee (Stan Hood photo [20 September 2008--during Fall Bird Count], photo [23 March 2009], and unpubl. data), a Fall Bird Count record [in part], a CBC record [in part], and a GBBC record [in part]; banded (28 September 2008, Mark Armstrong).
20 August 2009 (1--banded adult female returnee for at least fourth consecutive year) Creed Rd., northern Van Buren County, Tennessee (Bill Wagner, Jacquie Wagner).
Regional Extreme Dates:
Early Fall: 12 August 2008 (1 adult female; Van Buren County, Tennessee; Jacquie Wagner, Bill Wagner).
Late Spring: 22 April 2009 (1 female; Van Buren County, Tennessee; Jacquie Wagner, Bill Wagner).
YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: No registrations.
Habitat: The hummingbird at Cowan Rd., Putnam County, Tennessee, during early winter 2003-2004 frequented a feeder at a home located in the middle of an agricultural area; it often perched in a dense Forsythia bush (click on the photo link for that record above). The hummingbirds at Aspen Dr., Putnam County, Tennessee, during the winters of 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 visited feeders in a suburban yard that was lightly wooded and contained a few moderately dense shrubs.
Remarks: In addition to the records listed above, other hummingbirds have been noted in the Region during the non-breeding seasons, as follows: a Selasphorus sp. was present in Cumberland County, Tennessee, during the winter of 1989-1990 (fide J. B. Owen; Knight 1990b); a Selasphorus sp. was present at City Lake, Putnam County, Tennessee, 12-26 November 1998 (Barbara H. Stedman, Stephen J. Stedman; Fekel 1999a); a Selasphorus sp. appeared on Aspen Dr., Putnam County, Tennessee, 11-15 September 2005 (Stan Hood photo and unpubl. data) and was possibly the same bird as the Rufous Hummingbird that appeared at that site in late November 2005; an unidentified hummingbird spent the winter of 2005-2006 at Creed Rd., Van Buren County, Tennessee (Jacquie Wagner); and a Selasphorus sp. appeared on Hurricane Ridge Rd., DeKalb County, Tennessee, 1-11 December 2006 (Tommy L. Curtis photo, Virginia Curtis et al.). Statistically, it is likely that most or all of the Selasphorus sp., as well as the unidentified hummingbird, noted above were Rufous Hummingbirds.
The Rufous Hummingbird reported in Morgan County, Tennessee, during December 2001 was present for a longer period of time than indicated by the record above, but additional data about the stay of this hummingbird were not provided by, and perhaps were not available to, Sloan (2001) or Knight (2002b).
The Rufous Hummingbird that spent the entire winters of 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 on Creed Rd., Van Buren County, Tennessee (Bill and Jacquie Wagner) was probably the same individual as the unidentified hummingbird that spent the winter of 2005-2006 at that site (Bill and Jacquie Wagner); this individual returned to that site in August 2009.
Although no records of Rufous Hummingbird have yet occurred in the Kentucky portion of the Region, a Rufous stayed a considerable time in nearby Whitley County, Kentucky, during November and early December 2000 (Busroe 2001a), and several western hummingbirds have been located in nearby Warren County, Kentucky, during late fall and early winter, so a Rufous Hummingbird should eventually be confirmed as an occasional winter visitor to, or even a winter resident in, the Kentucky portion of the Region.
The sex ratio of the ten individuals identified as Rufous Hummingbirds is of interest, three being male and seven female. The number of individuals producing this ratio is probably too small to be statistically significant, but it bears further watching. The age ratio of the eleven individuals is also interesting, seven being adult or probably adult and three immature (some of these individuals, besides the Van Buren County female, may be duplicates--i. e., returning to a site for a second winter). The adult male Rufous present in DeKalb County, Tennessee, during the winter of 2004-2005 became the first adult male of this or any western hummingbird species to be observed within the Region.
Some data on the weights of banded individuals were obtained, as follows:
Counties with Observations (boldfaced):
| Barren | Metcalfe | Adair | Russell | Pulaski |
| Monroe | Cumberland | Clinton | Wayne | McCreary |
| Macon | Clay | Pickett | Fentress | Scott |
| Smith | Jackson | Overton | Putnam | Morgan |
| DeKalb | White | Cumberland | ||
| Warren | Van Buren | Bledsoe |
To see a map (Figure 1) displaying the data in the table above, click on the boldfaced word in this sentence.
Literature Cited
