My avian interests are decidedly raptorial, as a falconer and raptor
biologist. After my college ornithology classes 40 years ago, I'm today markedly
amateurish in regard to Ohio's microavifauna.
And this inquiry may be out of place here. If so, my apologies. (But I'm
certain a few others have pondered these crucial questions. If they haven't,
they merely watch and list birds, not bothering to ponder and explain avian
ecology.)
Just how can any hummingbird, whether native or incursive or accidental,
survive in an Ohio December? Just what are the carbohydrate, lipid, and
protein food sources for this bird, this time of year? Is someone feeding it? If
so, what? Can a hummingbird maintain nocturnal body temperatures by
metabolizing sugars, or, like most species, does it require an ample dietary
portion of lipids or proteins? If so, where is this little bird getting these
crucial nutrients? There are no natural nectar sources this time of year in
Ohio, and not many arthropods to pluck off.
Or, lamentably, is this specimen merely burning itself to death in a
desperate metabolic self consumption?
And lastly, if the bird is destined to die, unable to pass the Ohio winter,
what might be its legitimacy as a to-be-listed rare native? Isn't this
rare bird merely the result of errant, internal dys-migration functions? How
can any of that make the bird a legitimate new member of Ohio's native
avifauna? Or, does everyone recognize this bird's appearance in Ohio in this
season as a selectional failure, with an appropriate asterisk or question mark
in any new spp. list?
John A. Blakeman
2412 Scheid Rd.
Huron, OH 44839
419-433-5639
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