Rufous Hummingbirds Turning Up in Unusual Places Is climate
change the reason, or are birders just paying closer attention?
Hail, lightning, and gale-force winds had pounded southern
Louisiana just hours before in some of the worst weather here
since Hurricane Katrina. Untold thousands of birds caught
migrating from Central America and Mexico had surely perished in
the stormy Gulf of Mexico. But on this spring morning, the Owens
yard, just north of New Orleans, is a peaceful and busy haven
for the lucky survivors. As a half-dozen humans cradle their
coffee cups, a parade of ruby-throated hummingbirds sip sugar
water from three feeders set inside cages. Their throats sparkle
like Dorothy’s slippers in the clean air. The only sound is the
crack of a cage door clanging shut on each unsuspecting captive.
Nancy L. Newfield clutches a modified electronic car key, which
triggers the doors by remote control, as she keeps a sharp eye
out from her vantage point on a damp picnic bench. She is
clearly more Glinda than Wi