Offshore hummingbird sightings in Chilean Patagonia

By many metrics hummingbirds are excellent fliers, but few species are known to undertake long flights over open water. Here we report 33 sightings of Green-backed Firecrowns (Sephanoides sephaniodes) crossing the Corcovado Gulf in Chilean Patagonia. Sightings ranged between 1.2 and 12.6 km from shore and occurred in a variety of weather conditions. The high frequency of offshore encounters suggests that either the Green-backed Firecrown performs a seasonal migration between Patagonian islands and fjords or a high level of connectivity exists between geographically separated metapopulations.