HUMMERS: Eighteen species of hummingbirds in Texas 
and counting ... details on Passport to Texas ... 
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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas and Arizona have something in common when it 
comes to hummingbirds. 

"We're co-leaders with Arizona, with eighteen different species of 
humming birds."

Mark Klym is with wildlife diversity at Texas Parks and 
Wildlife. At the time Mark and I sat down for our 
interview, he told me a panel was reviewing a possible 
nineteenth hummer species for Texas. 
 
"Well, it would be the amethyst throated hummingbird. It did 
show up in a garden in San Benito. It was photographed - the 
photographs are not the greatest of photographs. But, they're 
described to me as being diagnostic."

Whether we have eighteen or nineteen species of 
hummers in Texas, Mark says, this time of year his phone 
rings off the hook with the same question.

"Hummingbirds right now are just finishing their migrations. 
We're just past that peak, and this is often that time I get a lot 
of calls in the office saying, 'well, when should I take my 
hummingbird feeder down?' If you're seeing hummingbirds 
around your feeder, definitely don't take it down at all. If you're 
not seeing hummingbirds around your feeder, you can consider 
taking it down, but in Texas, there's no reason ever to take it 
down. We can see hummingbirds from Amarillo to Brownsville 
any time of the year."

And maybe one day, you'll even see an amethyst throated 
hummer at your feeder. Find more hummingbird facts on 
the TPWD web site.

That's our show for today ... For Texas Parks and 
Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.