A leading bird expert on Vancouver Island says the numbers of two types of hummingbird are down, and blames the situation on the loss of habitat.

Cam Finlay, a biologist who has been banding hummingbirds for more than a decade, predicts it could be the start of a permanent decline of rufous and calliope hummingbirds.

The birds migrate north from Mexico and the southern U.S. and nest in B.C. each spring.

Finaly said this should be a busy time of the year for him, with dozens of birds be visiting the feeding stations on his wooded property near Victoria on a daily basis.

But Finlay said he is not as busy this spring as he has been in past years.

"The numbers are way down, the rufous particularily, the numbers are falling significantly, and the calliope, which is the smallest hummingbird in Canada, their numbers are going down too."

He notes that the migrating hummingbirds fly thousands of kilometres to get to B.C. and need lots of natural habitat for food to sustain their travel. And it's disappearing.

"Very simply, it's habitat destruction. It is not only hummingbirds, it's a lot of other species that migrate long distances are in trouble too for the same reason."

Finlay is pessimistic, warning that as important natural habitat disappears, it's only a matter of time before hummingbirds disappear as well.