A Rufous Hummingbird took a detour on her migration from the Pacific Northwest to Mexico and ended up in an Atlanta backyard in the middle of winter. She found shelter and food from a hummingbird feeder. A researcher later trapped and banded the hummingbird to record data about her unusual location. After staying the winter, the hummingbird migrated back north in the spring following her natural instincts.

1. Detour
The Story of a Hummingbird
Gone Astray
By Cheryl Beshke

2. Hummingbirds migrate
thousands of miles to get
from their summer
breeding grounds to their
winter homes.
Occasionally, a hummer
will go astray, perhaps
blown off course by a
storm or for other reasons
scientists do not
understand. This is the
story of one Rufous
Hummingbird that took a
detour on her journey
from the Pacific
Northwest to
southwestern Mexico and
landed in an Atlanta
backyard.

3. Detour
The Story of a Hummingbird
Gone Astray
written by Cheryl Beshke
Beshke Publishing
Atlanta, Georgia

4. Did You
Know?
The only
hummingbirds that
breed in the
eastern United
States are RubyThroated
Hummingbirds,
who arrive in
Atlanta from their
wintering grounds
south of the U.S./
Mexico border
around the first day
of spring. They
usually leave when
the insects and
flowers that are
their food supply
become scarce, in
late October.
On a snowy January day, a Rufous Hummingbird
arrived in an Atlanta neighborhood. She was cold
and hungry and far from her winter home.
1

5. Did You
Know?
Rufous Hummingbirds
can travel as many as
12,000 miles during a
round-trip migration!
Ruby-Throated
Hummingbirds migrate
across the Gulf of
Mexico, a journey of
over 450 miles that
takes them about 22
hours to complete.
Sometimes they make
this journey when the
wind is practically
blowing them
backwards!
2
Most other Rufous Hummingbirds
had migrated from their summer
home in the Pacific Northwest to
southwestern Mexico.

6. Did You
Know?
Birders used to
believe that all
hummingbirds that
were found away from
their wintering grounds
in Mexico were sick or
lost or injured. We
now know, thanks to
the practice of banding
birds, that some of
these birds return year
after year to the same
yards. Some people
think that a small
number of these birds
have always wintered
here. Others think
that they are
dispersing north from
Mexico.
Somehow she had taken a detour,
perhaps blown off course in a storm.
3

7. Did You
Know?
Hummingbirds have
a very high
metabolism. They
need to feed about
every 10 minutes,
and they can
consume up to twice
their body weight in
nectar each day!
Hummingbirds can
find nectar inside
certain flowers or
they can drink
artificial nectar,
made from sugar
and water, from
special feeders that
humans provide.
4
She came to the red hummingbird feeder
hoping for some sugar water. When
people saw her investigating, they quickly
cleaned and filled it.

8. Did You
Know?
Hummingbirds have
very long tongues
that help them to
reach nectar at the
base of flowers.
They are able lap
up nectar by taking
several licks every
second!
They also eat tiny
insects and spiders
to get the protein,
vitamins, and
minerals that they
need to be healthy.
The weather improved, but the
hummingbird stayed near the house with
the feeder in the backyard, delighting the
family who lived there.
5

9. Did You Know?
Hummingbirds can
hover in mid-air by
rapidly beating their
wings up to 90 times
per second. When they
hover, their wings
nearly touch in front of
and then behind their
body. They are the
only bird that can
actually fly backwards.
Hummingbirds can
reach flying speeds of
up to 60 miles per hour!
6
She came to the feeder often, taking
long drinks. Sometimes she would
perch, and sometimes she would
hover.

10. Did You
Know?
Hummingbirds enter a
state called torpor
when it is very cold. It
is like going into a
deep sleep. Their
body temperature
drops as much as 35
degrees! Their heart
rate and breathing rate
slow down, too. When
a hummingbird is in a
state of torpor, it
does not need to burn
as many calories and
it requires less food.
At night she found a sheltered place
where she could stay out of the
weather and sleep.
7

11. Did You
Know?
Researchers use a
trap like this one so
that they may capture
birds and gather
information about
them. Their research
is helping to better
understand
hummingbird behavior,
especially migration,
in North America. If
you see a
hummingbird in your
yard between
November and March,
it is important to be a
citizen scientist and
report your find.
8
One day, the feeder was in a strange place.
She was hungry, so she entered the cage.
The door shut behind her, but there was
plenty of sugar water to drink.

12. Did You
Know?
A man reached into the cage and
held her firmly in his warm hand. He
looked carefully at her leg and saw a
tiny band.
When a hummingbird
is banded, it is fitted
with a light-weight
aluminum band that is
inscribed with a
unique number.
Banders need to form
each hummingbird
band by hand. They
carefully cut them from
an aluminum sheet,
sand them smooth,
and form them into a
kind of bracelet. Each
band weighs about
0.005 grams. Thus, it
takes 200 bands to
weigh a single gram,
or, 5,500 to weigh just
one ounce.
9

13. Did You
Know?
Researchers use a
mesh bag, similar to
those used for
washing delicate
laundry, to keep a
hummingbird safe
while they are
carrying it. They can
hold it in the bag for a
short time until they
are ready to let it go.
The soft mesh
restrains the bird
without harming it.
10
He put her in a little mesh bag so that
he could carry her to his truck where he
kept his tools.

14. Did You
Know?
A Rufous
Hummingbird is
about 3 ½ inches
long from the tip of
its beak to the end
of its tail. It weighs
about 3 ½ grams,
less than the weight
of a nickel! Female
hummingbirds are
bigger than male
hummingbirds.
He carefully weighed her and measured
her and recorded the information to
share with other hummingbird
researchers.
11

15. Did You
Know?
Rufous Hummingbirds
look very similar to
another species of
hummingbird, the
Allen’s Hummingbird.
By looking closely at
this bird’s tail feathers,
the bander could see
that the tail feathers
near the center were
slightly notched. An
Allen’s Hummingbird
does not have this tail
feature.
12
He examined her tail feathers to check
for field marks so he could be sure she
was a Rufous Hummingbird.

16. Did You
Know?
The feathers on her gorget were iridescent
in the sun.
The iridescence, or
shiny metallic color,
of some of the
feathers on the
hummingbird’s
throat is caused by
the refraction, or
bending, of light,
similar to what
happens when light
shines through a
prism. At some
angles, no light is
refracted, so the
feathers look black.
At other angles, the
feathers reflect light
and produce a bright
flash of color.
13

17. Did You
Know?
A hummingbird has a
beak, or bill, like other
birds, but long and
narrow to help it reach
inside flowers for
nectar. The top of the
beak overlaps the
edges of the lower
beak, which is slightly
flexible.
Hummingbirds do not
use their beaks to
drink as if it were a
straw. They lap up
nectar with their
tongues.
14
He held her carefully and brought her
long, pointed beak to the feeder.

18. Did You
Know?
Drinking nectar from
flowers does not only
help the hummingbird
—it also helps the
flowers! When a
hummingbird puts its
head and beak inside
a flower, pollen grains
stick to its beak.
Some of that pollen is
left behind when the
hummingbird visits the
next flower. This
helps the flower to
make seeds so it can
make new flowers.,
She took a long drink because she was
already hungry again.
15

19. Did You
Know?
A female Rufous
Hummingbird will look
for a mate in the
spring. She will make
her own small cupshaped nest out of soft
materials stuck
together with spider
webs and then lay two
eggs, each about the
size of a pea. The
eggs hatch about 16
days after they are
laid. The female takes
care of her young by
herself. The baby
birds will remain in the
nest for about three
weeks and then fly
away.
16
His work now done, it was
time to let her go.

20. Did You
Know?
Hummingbirds are the
tiniest birds in the
world. The smallest of
all hummingbirds is
the Bee Hummingbird,
which is found in
Cuba. It is about two
inches long from the
tip of its beak to the tip
of its tail and weighs
less than two grams,
or a little less than the
weight of a dime.
He placed the tiny bird into the
woman’s cupped hand.
17

21. Did You
Know?
A hummingbird’s heart
beats between 250
times (at rest) and
1,260 times per
minute! Compare that
to an average rate of
between 60 and 100
beats per minute for
humans.
18
The Rufous Hummingbird rested there a
moment, still and content. The woman
could feel the beating of the
hummingbird’s heart in her palm. Then
the little bird flew away.

22. Epilogue
The little Rufous Hummingbird stayed in Atlanta the rest of the
winter. She continued to come to the feeder many times a day.
As the weather warmed up, she came to the feeder less
frequently because now there were small insects that she could
eat.
The days grew longer, and the little Rufous Hummingbird could
tell that spring was coming. One day in the middle of March, the
urge to fly north became too strong for her to stay in Atlanta.
She probably flew back to the Pacific Northwest, perhaps near
the place where she had been hatched.
She was never seen in Atlanta again.
19

23. Glossary
detour – an indirect route or path, sometimes used when the main route is
closed or not available.
field marks – unique characteristics that separate one bird from another.
gorget – an iridescent throat patch on hummingbirds.
hover – to remain in one place in the air by rapidly beating the wings.
iridescent – displaying shimmery colors that change depending on the
observer’s position.
migrate – to move annually between breeding and wintering sites.
20

24. Photo Credits
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cover: Photo by Cheryl Brown
Hummingbird line drawing:
http://www.animalclipart.net/animal_clipart_images/hummingbird_colorin
g_page_0515-1102-2016-2207_SMU.jpg
Page 1 Photo by Cheryl Brown
Page 2
http://sdakotabirds.com/species/maps/rufous_hummingbird_map.htm
Page 3 http://backyard.weatherbug.com/profiles/blogs/we-got-our-whitechristmas
Page 4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/grassvalleylarry/3113750431/
Page 5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pictiurfear/3420444532/
Page 6. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rolsson/6077356268/
Page 7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/orpost/3094595366/

25. Photo Credits
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Page 8. Photo by Cheryl Brown
Page 9. Photo by Cheryl Brown
Page 10. Photo by Cheryl Brown
Page 11. Photo by Cheryl Brown
Page 12. Photo by Rusty Trump
Page 13. Photo by Rusty Trump
Page 14. Photo by Cheryl Brown
Page 15. Photo by Cheryl Brown
Page 16. Photo by Rusty Trump
Page 17. Photo by Rusty Trump
Page 18. Photo by Rusty Trump

26. Bibliography
The following resources were helpful in creating this book. Check them
out if you would like to learn more about hummingbirds!
All about birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 20 Nov. 2011. Web.
Chambers, Lanny. Rufous Hummingbirds. Hummingbirds.net. 20 Nov. 2011. Web.
Sibley, D. A. (2003). The Sibley field guide to birds of Eastern North America. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf.
Sibley, D. A. (2001). The Sibley guide to bird life and behavior. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf.
Thompson, Bill III. (2006). Bird-watching basics for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
Publishing.
World of Hummingbirds. DGE Enterprises. 20 Nov. 2011. Web.

27. Author Cheryl
Beshke has been an
avid bird watcher for
most of her life.
Having the Rufous
Hummingbird visit
her yard in the winter
of 2004 was definitely
one of the highlights
of her birding life.
A Master Birder,
Cheryl lives in Atlanta
with her three
daughters and a
multitude of pets.