Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Annual survival and recruitment in a Ruby-throated Hummingbird population, excluding the effect of transient individuals

January 1, 2003

We estimated annual apparent survival, recruitment, and rate of population growth of breeding Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris), while controlling for transients, by using 18 years of capture-mark-recapture data collected during 1984-2001 at Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History near York, South Carolina. Resident males had lower apparent survival (0.30 ± 0.05 SE) than females (0.43 ± 0.04). Estimates of apparent survival did not differ by age. Point estimates suggested that newly banded males were less likely than females to be residents, but standard errors of these estimates overlapped (males: 0.60 ± 0.14 SE; females: 0.67 ± 0.09). Estimated female recruitment was 0.60 ± 0.06 SE, meaning that 60% of adult females present in any given year had entered the population during the previous year. Our estimate for rate of change indicated the population of female hummingbirds was stable during the study period (1.04 ± 0.04 SE). We suggest an annual goal of ≥64 adult females and ≥64 immature females released per banding area to enable rigorous future tests for effects of covariates on population dynamics. Development of a broader cooperating network of hummingbird banders in eastern North America could allow tests for regional or metapopulation dynamics in this species.

Publication Year 2003
Title Annual survival and recruitment in a Ruby-throated Hummingbird population, excluding the effect of transient individuals
DOI 10.1650/0010-5422(2003)105[54:ASARIR]2.0.CO;2
Authors B. Hilton, M.W. Miller
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Condor
Index ID 5224367
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Patuxent Wildlife Research Center