-- HUMMINGBIRD Q & A --
Color-marking #1

• A few scientists who band Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) have special permission from the federal Bird Banding Laboratory to mark them with special colors. Some banders use a tiny spot of colored paint on the bird's crown, but as part of Operation Rubythroat at Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, the birds are marked with non-toxic GREEN dye on their breasts or throats.
• The dye wears off after about two months or so. It is believed that green is one of the best colors for auxiliary marking of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds because green is the color of the bird's back; unlike red--the color of the adult male's distinctive throat--green is likely to be a "neutral" color. Many marked RTHUs from Hilton Pond Center have returned to the site in subsequent years, indicating that the color-marking probably has no negative effects.
• Color-marking serves two important purposes: 1) it shows that a bird is banded and eliminates the need to continually capture it in pull-string traps; and, 2) it increases the likelihood that someone away from the banding area will notice that a bird is marked and banded and will report it.
• This kind of information is very valuable in understanding the migrational path of the RTHU and, in fact, several of the green-marked birds have been observed in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and North Carolina after banding at Hilton Pond Center near York, South Carolina. Operation RubyThroat also has permission to use other colors for breast-marking at other banding sites; these include blue, brown, and black.
• We also color-mark RTHU on their wintering grounds in Costa Rica, where we use TURQUOISE/BLUE.
• If you see a color-marked hummingbird, please contact RESEARCH with the location and date. Please get a digital photo if possible.

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