A hummingbird that attracted hundreds of birders to Beloit, Wisconsin, in the fall of 2007 and then became the subject of controversy after it was captured and taken to the Brookfield Zoo in suburban Chicago is "doing great" today, say zoo officials.

The bird, a Green-breasted Mango, is sharing a free-flight aviary with tanagers, dacnises, trogons, and other tropical species. "He's got a strong personality," says Tim Snyder, curator of birds and reptiles, "so he really rules the roost."

The hummingbird was taken into captivity after staying in Beloit for weeks. Its removal sparked arguments between birders who insisted that all wild birds should be left wild and others who feared the bird would perish in the coming winter.

The hummingbird, the only Green-breasted Mango at a U.S. zoo, now sports a breast of adult iridescent green, not the juvenal dark central stripe it wore at the time of its capture. -- M.M.

Photo by Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society.

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