A tiny, avian newcomer has fluttered into a yard in Chilmark, and bird watchers still have a chance to see it.
For the first time, a rufous hummingbird has been spotted on the Island. While this species has been occasionally seen on Cape Cod during the winter, local naturalists say there are no records of the birds ever being on the Vineyard.
Rufous hummingbirds typically have a migratory path on the West Coast, but this bird made its way to Harry Beach’s Chilmark home in late November just before Thanksgiving. Beach said he was away delivering a boat to Florida at the time, but his partner saw a hummingbird hovering around the Mexican sage she planted in the spring, a plant the bird may have fed on down south.
Beach, who’s fed hummingbirds for over 20 years, said they were “really lucky,” and it was exciting to have the rufous hummingbird on his property.
“It’s ground zero for the hummingbird,” Beach said.
Luanne Johnson, wildlife biologist and director of BiodiversityWorks, said the number of rufous hummingbirds east of the Mississippi River has seen an uptick over the years, but it’s difficult to say why that’s the case.
The species’ overall population has sharply declined over the years. According to Cornell University’s ornithological lab, while the global breeding population consists of 22 million individuals, the number of rufous hummingbirds has declined by 72 percent between 1968 and 2023.
Johnson said the Vineyard tends to see ruby-throated hummingbirds, which she described as hardier and smaller than rufous hummingbirds. She also said it’s possible that warmer winters make it easier for rufous hummingbirds to survive in Massachusetts, particularly if a heated hummingbird station is present. Johnson also said there is a possibility the bird wintered last year on the Cape considering its age.
“This bird is an adult. She knows what she’s doing,” Johnson said.
Mark Faherty, science coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, said the rufous hummingbird in Chilmark was more likely an anomaly than an indication of a pattern even if a few have wintered on the Cape. There aren’t any active tracking programs for the rufous hummingbird because so few actually come to Massachusetts. Faherty said the state has no record of hosting the species until the 1990s.
“Nobody really knows,” Faherty said about the rufous hummingbirds’ flights to Massachusetts. “Birds aren’t robots, and there’s a lot of variation in different behavior … I was surprised to hear it was the first time on the Vineyard.”
The species nests from the Rocky Mountains to Southeast Alaska and typically winter in western Mexico. Faherty said rufous hummingbirds return to the Pacific Northwest in mid-March, which is “bleak” until July.
“They’re just tough,” Faherty said. “They’re not made of glass as we might think.”
And the hummingbird in Chilmark is indeed tough. She survived the recent snowfall and recent bouts of high winds.
“She’s miraculously still here,” Beach said.
Still, Faherty said a rufous hummingbird staying in Massachusetts would need help from a dedicated homeowner to get nectar from a heated feeder. Beach said he’s focused on helping the bird get the nutrition it needs, including a heated feeder full of nectar.
Beach said anyone who would like to see the rufous hummingbird can come to his 220 North Road home in the morning from 7 am to 9 am or at noon. He just asks people to park across the street on Brickyard Road.