2026 Banding Season Report: Page Springs Fish Hatchery

On September 5th we wrapped up our 2026 hummingbird banding season at the Page Springs Fish Hatchery. This is our third year at the “Hatch,” and we are thrilled to have such a beautiful, well cared for, and diverse location in which to conduct this project. A huge thank you to AZGFD for their support, especially the employees who helped diligently with feeder maintenance.  

Black-chinned and Anna's Hummingbirds: As is typical for this site, most of the birds we banded/recaptured (193) were Black-chinned Hummingbirds. Black-chinned are attracted to riparian habitat for nesting, and the fish hatchery with its ponds and creekside location fits the bill. This being the Sedona area, the ever-adaptable Anna's Hummingbirds were also a significant presence (24 banded/recaptured) although their numbers here were smaller. 

Pocket Fire: We noticed that the Pocket Fire near Sedona may have affected local hummingbird populations. The fire began on June 19 and burned for 6 weeks across more than 27,000 acres (11,000 hectares). Soon after the fire began, the population of hummingbirds decreased at our site. We heard that same observation from many but not all local residents: they reported that the hummingbird population in their yards was smaller than usual. Last year we banded or recaptured 275, while this year the total was 226.

Costa's Hummingbirds: We banded our first and only adult male Costa's during this season's first session on May 16. Last year we banded two juveniles and one adult female. There's no doubt that these desert birds are on their way up from the increasingly hot Phoenix environment.

A Possible Hybrid: Our most amazing find was a possible hybrid between Anna's and Black-chinned Hummingbirds. I had originally banded her in 2024 as a juvenile female Anna's. She was peculiar even then but had some Anna’s traits in her wings and tail. She was recaptured on June 27 this year by our newest banding team member, Amanda Hammer.

The bird was even more suspicious-looking this year. She had a female Black-chinned tail and had very heavy stippling on her gorget. This is unusual for an adult female Black-chinned. They usually have very little or no stippling. However, Anna's Hummingbirds do get quite the gorget patch with beautiful hot pink feathers. This bird had no iridescence at all, so it was quite the different bird!

To top it all, she was gravid (pregnant), ready to lay an egg within the next 48 hours. We had hoped to find the nest or recapture her during the season, but sadly that didn’t occur. Fingers crossed for next year!

Rufous Hummingbirds: We usually get the ever-feisty Rufous during August but didn't capture our first one until our last session on September 5. We captured 7 juvenile males — finally! That's late for them and a smaller count than usual. We banded 15 last year.

The numbers: Here are the statistics for this year's banding:

Total Banded/Recaptured = 226

• Black-chinned Hummingbirds (Archilochus alexandri) = 193

• Anna's Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) = 24

• Rufous Hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) = 7

• Costa’s Hummingbirds (Calypte costae) = 1

• Unknown (possible hybrid between Anna's and Black-chinned) = 1

• Recaptures (previously banded at this site) = 33 (some from 2024!)        

Our data will be sent to the Bird Banding Lab as well as the Hummingbird Monitoring Network so that researchers can refer to it when assessing hummingbird population trends and movement.

What a year it was. 163 visitors came out to see the hummingbirds, including the Cub Scouts, a few of whom got to release birds back into the wild. Other visitors got up before dawn or camped overnight just to join us at banding, some traveling from as far as Kingman, Gilbert, and Tucson. Thank you for supporting this amazing project, and for your love of hummingbirds.

We're also happy to share that Amanda Hammer is the newest member of the International Hummingbird Society staff, and a new hummingbird bander who helped at our site this year.

To the Northern Arizona Audubon Society: we thank you again for your tremendous, ongoing support of this project. Thank you especially for helping spread the word about banding: it's a big part of why we saw so many visitors this season.

And to every volunteer who traveled, gave their time, and brought their passion to this site: your commitment to these birds made this season possible. We thank you.

Thank you everyone for an incredible season!

— Hilary Morejon, IHS Banding Project Leader