Arizona’s first documented Ruby-throated Hummingbird, banded in Tucson in January 2005 by SABO Director Sheri Williamson.

Though it’s the hummingbird most familiar to most Americans, the Ruby-throated is the third rarest of Arizona’s 18 recorded hummingbird species. Despite generations of intense observation by some of America’s most experienced birders and ornithologists, it wasn’t until January 2005 that a possible female Ruby-throated was discovered wintering in the Tucson yard of a professional birding guide. At the request of the host, this bird was banded by SABO Director Sheri Williamson and confirmed by measurements and plumage characteristics as Arizona’s first known Ruby-throated and 18th hummingbird species.

Sightings of an adult male at the Paton feeders in Patagonia in September-October 2007 and September-October 2008 almost certainly represent a single bird. It was a long wait for the fourth record/third individual, another adult male in late September 2015 at the home of another birding guide in the northern Chiricahua Mountains.

On October 26, 2015, this juvenile male Ruby-throated appeared in the Bisbee yard of SABO Directors Tom Wood and Sheri Williamson.

Though SABO’s hummingbird banding team is always alert for the possibility of a migrating Ruby-throated among the hundreds of Black-chinneds at our banding stations along the San Pedro River, Arizona’s fifth record/fourth individual, a juvenile male, turned up after the end of this year’s banding season in the Bisbee yard of SABO Directors Tom Wood and Sheri Williamson. This handsome and fierce little bird is now the second member of its species to be banded in Arizona.

It seems likely that Arizona’s scant handful of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds came from the western part of the species range in southern Alberta and extreme eastern British Columbia, but we’re hoping that this newly banded individual will be re-encountered someday somewhere, shedding a bit more light on this familiar yet mysterious bird.

SABO’s ongoing hummingbird research is supported by the generosity of our members and donors. If you’d like to help, we hope you’ll consider making a tax-deductible donation or “adopting” a banded hummingbird for yourself, a family member, friend, or colleague.

Arizona’s fourth documented Ruby-throated Hummingbird poses for his “mug shot” after receiving a band. This is only the second member of this species to be banded in Arizona.