Region 6
Region VI Central Prairie
Bert Frenz
221 Rainbow Drive
PMB 12190
Livingston, TX 77399-2021
e-mail: bert@bafrenz.com
Green Violet-ear: (1 immature) 9-10 May (Ernest Jasek, Susan Schaezler, Mike Creese, Bob Doe, Jerry Brite, et al.) home of Ernest Jasek, Old Wiederstein Rd, near Garden Ridge, Guadalupe County [rare, photographed by Mike Sims, Keith Bartels, Susan Schaezler].
Clifford Shackelford, "The recent news of two different Green Violet-ears in Texas is great. The Texas Bird Records Committee lists about 32 accepted records for this hummingbird. At Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW), we are slowly but surely working on a hummingbird book and I have plotted draft range maps for all Texas species. The violet-ear's map is quite interesting in that most documented records are clustered in the Hill Country (central to southern portions) where lots of observers feed and sometimes photograph new and different hummingbirds. At first glance of this map, one's eye immediately notices this Hill Country clustering. I wonder what is so attractive about the Texas Hill Country to this vagrant? Is it because there are lots of observers or is this species attracted to the limestone canyons and hills? "There is also a cluster of records from the Lower Rio Grande Valley and a couple/few records on the Coastal Bend. Otherwise the last couple/few records are 'singles' scattered east of IH-35. There are no records from the Trans-Pecos, Panhandle, North-central Texas, etc.
Buff-bellied Hummingbird: (1) 4 March; (2) ~24 March and through the end of the period (Sue Bernard), arrived at a feeder hung the day before in their yard in northern Austin County [rare, but have occurred at this location before, arriving early spring and leaving late fall.].
Buff-bellied Hummingbird: (1) 9 March (Margaret Cook), her yard off Lynn Road, north Austin County [she told Darrell Vollert she has had Buff-bellies in her yard each spring and summer since 1995].
Buff-bellied Hummingbird: (1) 24 March and through the end of the period (Marcia Effinger), her yard, Chappell Hill, Washington County [fourth consecutive year as summer resident in this yard; last year it stayed 6 months].
Buff-bellied Hummingbird: (1) 2 and 22 April (Kitty Anding), her feeders, College Station, Brazos County [rare; only the second Brazos County record, the previous one being in 1999].
Buff-bellied Hummingbird: (1) 13 May (David Veselka), Yoakum, western edge of Lavaca County, only two blocks from DeWitt County [This is the third consecutive spring that a Buff-Bellied has been observed feeding regularly at her feeder. The previous two years Buff-bellied Hummingbird has remained regular at her feeder until late summer or early fall.].
Buff-bellied Hummingbird: (1) 23 April to at least 14 May (Derek Muschalek), his yard, DeWitt County [rare for region].
Buff-bellied Hummingbird: (1) 14-21 May (Brush Freeman), Utley, Bastrop County [rare for area, but rapidly getting more regular].
Buff-bellied Hummingbird: (1) 18 May through end of season (Stan Wellso), Tahitian Village subdivision, Bastrop, Bastrop County [rare].
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: (1 male) 6 March (Sandy Dillard), Bryan, Brazos County [very early arrival; only competing dates are a couple of over-wintering birds in Washington County in 1998-99 and a female that arrived in Brenham on 2 February 1980 and another arriving 7 March 1975 in the same Brenham backyard].
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: (1) 10 March (Georgette Guernsey), her feeder, Angelina County [first arrival].
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: (1 male) 11 March (Andrew Ebel); (1 female) 16 March (Darrell Vollert), Brenham, Washington County [typical early arrival date for this area].
Black-chinned Hummingbird: (2) 1 April; (1) 29 April (Tim Fennell), Granger area, Williamson County [status?].
Rufous Hummingbird: (1) 1 April (Kitty Anding), her feeders, College Station, Brazos County [rare].
Rufous Hummingbird: (1 adult male) 13 August 2000 to at least 6 April 2001; (1 immature male) 4 January to at least 6 March 2001 (Gail Cole, Darrell Vollert), Brenham, Washington County [occasional].