TUCSON HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT

Spreading the beauty of hummingbirds throughout the city

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Data collection

Abundance data
Watch your hummingbirds for half an hour a week, anytime between dawn - 9:00AM. While you're watching and enjoying the hummingbirds, please fill out what species you see in your yard, using the Abundance form. Collecting abundance data is an essential part of the project.

Behavior & Abundance data
Optionally, you may also report information on the behavior of the hummingbirds. If you chose to collect behavioral data, use the Behavior & Abundance form instead of the above form. This will be extremely valuable in understanding the abundance data and species interactions taking place among hummingbirds.

Instructions for behavior data collection

We request that you fill in information regarding the following hummingbird activities:

Feeding: A bird is feeding from a feeder, or flower, with a few second break between feeding bouts.
If you report the bird is feeding, please add the feeder / plant information in the next two columns.

Perching: sitting on a branch / feeder and such, in an erect posture, usually after feeding.

Singing: The bird is perched and singing. Posture is either erect or with body tilted forward

Scout flight and/or Insect feeding: Bird flies to a point in the vicinity of the feeding place, then it hovers for a few seconds in place, then flies to a second point and hovers, and so forth. The bird may be feeding on insects in the air (although they may be too small for youto see them).

Display flight: flight includes climbs and dives (up to ~40 meters high) above the display object (another hummingbird / other bird species/ predator / human). 5-10 dive displays may be given in a sequence. Flight may or may not include vocalization.

Chasing: A hummingbird pursues another individual and chases it out of the area. This pursuit usually occurs by a displayer.
If you report the bird is chasing or displaying, please add in the next two columns information about the species that is being chased, or the target of the display (if known).

 

Once you have collected the data, please report it through this web site.


Please enter your data on a weekly basis. This will enable us to follow changes in hummingbird' responses as they occur. It will also prevent large amounts of data accumulating and hours of work in a later stage. Please save all your data sheets and send them to us* at the end of the project as a backup.

* The Tucson Hummingbird Project, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

Special thanks to:

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

University of Arizona
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Silliman Memorial Research Fund

 

We appreciate your comments. Please email Alona Bachi: alona@email.arizona.edu