GREEN MANGO "RESCUED"

The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinal reports today that the "misguided hummingbird from Mexico that alighted near Beloit in September has been spared the doom of a Wisconsin winter".

On Monday, Mike Ramsden, who is the birder who first identified the bird in the backyard of Joan and Karl Salzberg, lured the mango into a cage and rescued it. The hummingbird has been turned over to the Wisconsin Humane Society Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee. They feel they have wonderful capability to care for a bird like this. So far the bird appears to be doing well in his new surroundings.

Whether or not the bird should be "rescued" was hotly debated among professional and amateur ornithologists. The point is now moot as the bird is in captivity.

My wife was among the first birders to travel to Beloit to view and photograph the mango. Over 700 people eventually showed up in the Salzberg's back yard!