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Green-violet ear/Avery County



Folks,
        On Friday evening I received a call from Susan Campbell asking if I
could check out a hummingbird coming to a feeder in Newland, located in
Avery County, North Carolina.  She received a report via a birder in Florida
whose parents summer up in Newland.  They told her they had a very large
hummer with blue on it's throat coming to their feeder. Being an avid
birder, their daughter  told her parents the bird was probably a rarity and
insisted that  they have someone come up to document the bird.
        On Saturday morning, Keith Camburn and I went up to Newland.  We
arrived at about 8:30 AM and the bird in question arrived about 5 minutes
later.
The host mentioned that they thought that it may be a Blue-throated
Hummingbird.  Within moments of observing the bird, Keith and I both
realized that it was in fact an adult, Green Violet-ear.  The bird was very
large for a hummer.  It had a thick, black, down-curved bill.  The bird was
all green, with very prominant violet/blue ear patches as well as a
prominant violet/blue chest patch.
There was absolutely no white on the bird except a tiny white spot behind
the eye.  When perched and observed from the back, a dark sub-terminal band
could be seen on the tail.  The wings were not quite as long as the tail and
appeared black.  The head, and back were green with hues of light green,
yellow, and copper tones. The throat was light green.
        We observed this bird for about 90 minutes and I took several photos
to document it. The weather was intermittant rain, in the 50's, light breeze
and lighting was not the best for digiscoping, but I did my best.   During
this time, the bird constantly came to the feeder every 5 to 10 minutes.
When not feeding, it could be observed perching in a Dogwood and Rhodo
thicket.
        We asked the host how long the bird had been present and she said
that this was the 6th day.  We explained to her that this bird is an extreme
rarity and that other birders would love to see it.  We discussed the issue
for several minutes and both she and her husband stated that they live in a
controlled access community, and that they are both about 80 years old.
They as well as their daughter felt that it would be too much for them to
handle.  They were very apologetic but firm.   They  thanked us for coming
to identify and document this very rare visitor.
        I called the hosts on Sunday as well as Monday, the bird appears to
be gone.   It is my understanding that past North Carolina sightings for
this species only lasted about 3 days.  Since Saturday was the 6th day,  the
rapid manner in which this bird was feeding, and a front went through
Saturday evening, I guess it was ready to move on.
        I will post some pictures to Carolinabirds.
Best regards,
Wayne
Wayne K. Forsythe
Hendersonville, N. C. 28791
828-697-6628
wforsythe@earthlink.net