GA Birders,

Today (2/26/02) I banded a second year male Allen's Hummingbird in Roswell, Georgia. This bird pretty much looks like an adult male with the exception of the gorget is not quite complete under chin. The section under the chin is full of pin feathers and should be complete in a few days. This bird is about complete on the wing molt. He has one feather to go (P9) and it is about 75% in. Once he gets his wings complete he should be on his way to his breeding grounds in California.

The homeowner Kelly Tate has graciously agreed to let people come to her backyard to view the bird and asks only that you PLEASE LOCK THE GATE WHEN LEAVING HER BACKYARD.

I will give you directions coming off of GA400:

From GA400 take Exit 7 which is Holcomb Bridge Road Go West on Holcomb Bridge towards Roswell Follow Holcomb Bridge across Hwy 9 where it becomes Crossville Rd. Keep following Holcomb Bridge/Crossville Rd past Crabapple intersection After crossing Crabapple take the first left which is Wavetree Dr. Follow Wavetree Dr. for about 1 mile until you come to Woodstock Rd. Turn right on Woodstock and go one tenth of a mile Turn left onto Kiveton Park Dr. Follow Kiveton Park Drive about .25 mile it will dead end into Todwick. Turn right on Todwick and follow about .1 mile until it dead ends into Shirerokes Ct. When you are sitting on Todwick at the Shirerokes intersection Kelly's house is right in front of you. It is a yellow stucco house and the house number is 515. You can go through the gate on the left side of the house and the feeder is on the back deck. The best place to view the feeder is by the white pine looking basically up the steps of the deck. The bird seems to come from the big privit bush in the corner of the back yard and up to the deck. It also may land in the vine stuff by the deck.

If you listen you should hear the bird's wing trill when it flies. It has fresh P10s which is what makes the wing trill on the adult males of the selasphorus species. If you want to see this bird, I would not bet on it being around too long, so do not procrastinate. Adult male Allen's and Rufous are showing up now on the West coast getting ready for the breeding season, so I would not expect this bird to hang around more than a week or so if that. I banded the bird at about 9:45 and went to band a Rufous and then came back and viewed the bird again at about 1:00PM. Good luck and please remember to lock the gate when you leave Kelly's yard.

Thanks,

Rusty Trump Suwanee, GA

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