April 2022 - 29

Calliope hummingbirds were the most common species caught, banded and released in Ned and Gigi Batchelders' 2021 research in Wyoming. (Photo by Greg Bergquist)
Wyoming so any information on these species
is valuable. "
Species of Greatest Conservation Need are
designated in the State Wildlife Action Plan
and are designated by evaluating trends in a
species' population and potential threats.
" Hybrids are rare, but we have banded
them in the past, " added Gigi. " We have
documented almost 50 probable mixed
species of male hybrid hummingbirds in
seven states over the past 21 years, or about
one hybrid per one thousand captures.
They tend to occur where breeding species
territories merge or overlap. "
RARE BREED
The Batchelders are part of only 150
federally-approved hummingbird banders in
the United States. Their efforts are voluntary,
self-funded and operate independent of any
government agency or wildlife organization.
They began banding western hummingbirds
after relocating to Red Lodge, Montana, upon
Ned's retirement from the energy industry in
Oklahoma in 1999. Their introduction to
hummingbird research came in the mid-1990s
when they traveled from Oklahoma to the Gulf
Coast to watch large-scale banding efforts.
" We volunteered with neck banding geese
and for duck banding in western Oklahoma
and that lit our fuse, " Ned said. " After seeing
an ad in Birds & Blooms magazine that
Hummingbird Research Inc. was banding
hummingbirds year round and it was open
to the public, we went. We intended to spend
an afternoon but stayed five days until my
vacation time was up. We started going every
spring and fall and after two or three years,
they knew our interest and asked if we wanted
to volunteer. "
They are now U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service volunteers and dedicate themselves
fulltime to hummingbird research, identifying
locations around the country with limited
hummingbird data.
" They are lesser-studied and understood,
but everyone is fascinated with them and we
were, too, " said Ned about the couple's twodecade
focus on hummingbirds. " That was
a challenge to us, to just really get to know
Wyoming Wildlife | 29

April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2022

April 2022 - 1
April 2022 - 2
April 2022 - 3
April 2022 - 4
April 2022 - 5
April 2022 - 6
April 2022 - 7
April 2022 - 8
April 2022 - 9
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April 2022 - 29
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