Nature's Notebook

t’s not the title of a new movie, and it’s not about hum-vees. Instead, the Tri-State region was hit by an amazing influx of hummingbirds during the past few weeks.

 That’s right. Hummingbirds. In November. And not just any hummingbirds, not even our one common breeding species in the East, the ruby-throated hummingbird .

 No, most of these are Selasphorus hummingbirds. Don’t worry, they’re not some kind of radioactive element. That’s the name of a genus of two closely related hummingbirds from western North America, the rufous hummingbird and Allen’s hummingbird . Even expert birders have trouble telling these two species apart, so similar is their plumage at this time of year; for that reason, they often refer to them by their generic name.

Sensibly, our rubythroats have headed south for the winter, and so have the vast majority of other North American hummers. But for some reason, a handful of these tiny birds, particularly of the Selasphorus duo, wander the continent during late fall, popping up at hummingbird feeders and late-blooming flowers far from their home ranges.

What made this November exceptional was the sheer number of sightings. Many of us suspect that the continued string of unusually warm days is the cause, though why it should push those Westerners eastward is not clear. A second possible explanation is that more people have been leaving out their nectar feeders longer as they become aware of the general phenomenon of late-wandering hummers.

You might want to join in the game by hanging a hummingbird feeder and watching it for a tiny sprite (though as I write this, the season’s coldest weather is finally due to arrive). Feeders are on sale at the Sharon Audubon gift shop and elsewhere.

Notes from readers: Joy Pulver of Salisbury writes that an adult bald eagle is still evident in the vicinity of Lakeville Lake; Margaret Webber of Sharon had a flock of eastern bluebirds on her deck.

Fred Baumgarten is a naturalist and writer. He can be reached at fredb58@sbcglobal.net. His blog is at thatbirdblog.blogspot.com.