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An Early Spring Migration Record for Calliope Hummingbird

Robert S. Woods

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Prior to this year the migrating Calliope Hummingbirds (Stellulu celliope) have not been observed to arrive in the San Gabriel Valley (Los Angeles County, California) until some time in April, my earliest record being April 8, 1926. Willett states (Pacific Coast Avifauna no. 21, 1933, p. 99) that an adult male was taken by L. H. Miller at Riverside in late March, 1892. This was probably the only published occurrence earlier than April in the United States, as the Arizona and New Mexico records almost entirely pertain to the southward migration.

At mid-afternoon on March 6, 1937, only a minute or two after noting the first Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorzls rufus) of the season, I saw in the same flowering quince bush a male Calliope Hummingbird. The Calliope was tame and unhurried, and alternately fed and rested in the quince for the remainder of the afternoon, but it did not reappear on the following day or thereafter. The maximum temperatures on March 6 and the several preceding days were slightly above 80 degrees.

Asusa, California, October 26, 1937

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