This guy is at Valley Hills Nursery. Any ideas as to species?
Carmel Hummer
Closest I can get is one of the hermits. Will keep looking.
S/he looks quite young, as if all its feathers haven't come in yet or s/he is possibly molting so it is difficult to tell. :)
I live across the Monterey Bay from Carmel and the only hummingbirds I've seen at my house are Anna's Hummingbirds, although I understand that Allen's, Costa's, and possibly Black-chinned Hummingbirds can be seen. Rufous Hummingbirds breed more in the Northwest, using the Pacific and the Rocky Mountain Flyways for migrating.
Both the Allen's and the Rufous Hummingbirds are "rufous" in coloring (reddish-brown) along with green and are difficult to distinguish apart.
The Anna's Hummingbird and the Costa's Hummingbird are related, being the only hummingbirds native to the U.S. that carry the same color on the top of their head as on their throat (that is, the males). The Anna's is kind of a bright fuschia-pink, while the Costa's is a deep purple/violet.
The Black-chinned has a black chin (duh) or throat with a small band of violet at the bottom of said band.
I think we can safely rule out the Allen's and the Rufuous Hummingbirds because the tail feathers on the adult males taper to a sharp point while the females have white tips on the outer tail feathers. The immature males and females also have white tips on their outer tail feathers.
I think we can also safely rule out the Black-chinned Hummingbird since it has a white "collar" which strongly contrasts with the dark head.
Also, the little bit of color I could see on the head just behind the eye looks more fuschia-pink than purple so that would eliminate the Costa's Hummingbird.
Therefore, I'll make a wild guess that it is probably a male Anna's Hummingbird. The lack of white tips on the outer tail feathers would indicate it is, indeed, a male. The female Anna's has white tips on the outer tail feathers as does both the immature male and female Anna's Hummingbird.
Does that make any sense?
Of course, I could be (probably am) wrong. As I said . . . just a guess . . . or more like a process of elimination. :)
MJ
P.S. Of course, this is assuming that this particular bird isn't a hybrid between species, which is frequent, and can explain hummingbirds that are difficult to identify. Typical hybrids combine qualities of both species and the outcome isn't always predictable. Identification of hybrids is a guessing game.
This message was edited Jun 10, 2005 2:25 AM
Well, s/he ain't from around here.
Or here in NJ
What a beauty!
Thank you Mz I have Anna's here at home and a little guy showed up yesterday with the same loud wing sound as Darth my old friend. This was a small male, but he had the loud hum of his wings. It sounds like the light-sabers in star wars. -Rich