Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts
Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)
Abundance: Very Uncommon during fall, winter, and early spring; 15 Regional records in 8 counties, 3 in Kentucky and 5 in Tennessee (Map of UCR Distribution); data from the Regional bird-monitoring efforts are too few to determine a trend in the population wintering in the Region (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).
Status: Winter Resident; many banding records; photographs (see links below).
Regional High Count: 2 (many dates from December 2003 to early April 2004; Putnam County, Tennessee; Stan Hood; also from early November 2011 through mid-March 2012, Barren County, Kentucky; Lew and Ruth Young).
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.), 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), 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, 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), 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]); banded (10 December 2005, Chris Sloan); a CBC (count period only) record; and a 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), 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); 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).
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]); 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]; Stan Hood photo [23 March 2009]), 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 2009–2 January 2010 (1—banded adult female returnee for at least fourth consecutive winter) Creed Rd., northern Van Buren County, Tennessee (Bill Wagner, Jacquie Wagner).
C. 23 October 2011–14 January 2012 (1—banded female) near Science Hill, Pulaski County, Kentucky (fide Roseanna M. Denton), banded 5 November 2011 (B. Lemon Palmer-Ball).
C. 3 November 2011–14 January 2012 (1–2—banded females) Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky (Lew and Ruth Young), banded 5 November 2011( B. Lemon Palmer-Ball).
C. 3 November 2016–11 April 2017 (1 female banded) Cumberland County, Kentucky (Sonya Jackson, Ray Bontrager photographs and eBird #—S34189522).
Regional Extreme Dates:
Early Fall: 12 August 2008 (Van Buren County, Tennessee; Jacquie Wagner, Bill Wagner).
Late Spring: 22 April 2009 (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); a Selasphorus sp. appeared on Hurricane Ridge Rd., DeKalb County, Tennessee, 1–11 December 2006 (Tommy L. Curtis photo, Virginia Curtis et al.); and a Selasphorus sp. was observed on West Oak Dr., Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee, for a few days ending 19 December 2009 (Billie Higginbotham 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, 2008–2009 and the early part of the winter of 2009–2010 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).
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 tweleve individuals identified as Rufous Hummingbirds is of interest, three being male and nine 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 ten 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 mass data on banded individuals were obtained, as follows:
Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR
Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.
| 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 |
Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR
Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.
Literature Cited
