After some late morning festivities, I got home and checked the computer. I was shocked to see a Mexican Violetear was just seen in Crawford County and just posted. This bird is far out it’s range being Central Mexico. This hummingbird is 1″ larger in size than our common Ruby-throated. The homeowner preferred you contact her for the address. I figured this was maybe going to be a once in a lifetime chance to see this bird in the state of Wisconsin. With an almost 3 hour ride heading to the Gay Mills area in Crawford County, I felt I would take the chance and hit the highway with out an address. It was my lucky day as 30 minutes on the road Rachel returned my email, I got her address. I continued on to the location. After arriving at the location, walking towards the crowd of birders, all with masks, a voice said, Jim, you missed the bird by 2 minutes! They also said it shows about every 20 minutes, I felt better. After about 20 minutes the bird did show up and gave us some great action at the feeder. Wow, what a show! A beautiful bird, the colors and the size too! A big thank you to Rachel for allowing birders to come onto her property to view this bird. This was life bird #355 for me in the state of Wisconsin and an exciting one at that! Images were taken on August 2, 2020.
Awesome!!! Lucky u!!! Thanks for sharing this rarity.
Such beautiful images Jim. Thank you for driving 6 hours to capture these stunning shots and for sharing them with all of us!
You captured yet another of nature’s spectacular beings. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos.
Fabulous photos! I just moved behind the UW Arboretum and got my first hummingbirds. I was beyond thrilled to see them at the feeder.
That was quite a chance you took, driving west without an address! I’m glad it worked out for you because you were able to get some great photos of that rare (for Wisconsin) hummingbird. Congratulations on your new life bird, and thanks for sharing the photos.
Great photos, Jim! As usual.
Beautiful photos, Jim!
Jim,
Great photos! Thanks for sharing! We just had one in Mundelein IL 19-22 August 2021 coming to a backyard feeder. It was Illinois’s 2nd record. It made the front page of our Daily Herald newspaper!