Not exactly “winter” by the calendar, but on September 25th an email arrived in my inbox with the message…”I think she’s back” and so kicked off the 2016 “winter hummingbird” season. Rufous hummingbird K16452 was back. Banded as a hatch-year bird in 2015, “Frosty”, had returned to her winter vacation home. Circumstances so far prevent me from recapturing her this winter but excellent photos of her band documented that indeed it was “Frosty” – she had returned to the mid-south. She’s still here today and if she stays as long as she did last year she’ll usher in springtime in April.