?Immature Rufous Hummingbird

[floraphile]

23 Dec 2020 Baldwin co. AL

Another (or perhaps the same) hummingbird visited the feeder today.  He had a rufous head, rufous-washed flanks, and a spot of dark rufous color on his upper throat.  The remainder of this throat was white with greyish spotting.  His bill looked very fixed/sturdy--or at least more so than the Ruby-Throats I'm used to.  I was not able to see his back or take his pic before he flew off.  

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by floraphile
clarification

[floraphile]

He returned and I got a few shots, but not of his back/tail.  Can this bird be ID'd from this vantage point or must the tail feathers be inspected to separate it from Allen's etc.?  Does the rufous head & rufous spot on the throat (both more apparent in real time) weigh more on the side of Rufous?

Edited December 23, 2020 by floraphile
clarification

[Seanbirds]

Hmm...a challenge as always, but I’m strongly leaning Rufous, mostly because the chances of having an Allen’s down there seems pretty slim. Besides, aren’t Rufous supposed to winter in Alabama?

EDIT- disregard everything I say until somebody else proves it one way or the other. Just a few thoughts.

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by Seanbirds

[AlexHenry]

This photo alone is completely ambiguous to species level

Edited December 23, 2020 by AlexHenry

[DLecy]

I'd go with selasphorus sp.

[floraphile]

5 hours ago, Seanbirds said:

Hmm...a challenge as always, but I’m strongly leaning Rufous, mostly because the chances of having an Allen’s down there seems pretty slim. Besides, aren’t Rufous supposed to winter in Alabama?

EDIT- disregard everything I say until somebody else proves it one way or the other. Just a few thoughts.

 

Occasional Allen's have been noted here.  I think the last one was a few years back.  Rufous are here in winter--once rare, now more commonplace.

[floraphile]

5 hours ago, AlexHenry said:

This photo alone is completely ambiguous to species level

Hi, @AlexHenry.  Can you be more specific?  Do you mean because the tail feathers aren't visible and they would be necessary to speciate?

[floraphile]

5 hours ago, Seanbirds said:

Hmm...a challenge as always, but I’m strongly leaning Rufous, mostly because the chances of having an Allen’s down there seems pretty slim. Besides, aren’t Rufous supposed to winter in Alabama?

EDIT- disregard everything I say until somebody else proves it one way or the other. Just a few thoughts.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2020 by floraphile
repeat post

[Connor Cochrane]

24 minutes ago, floraphile said:

Hi, @AlexHenry.  Can you be more specific?  Do you mean because the tail feathers aren't visible and they would be necessary to speciate?

Yeah. These birds normally stick around for a few days. Tail feathers are most easily photographed when the bird is in flight, but if you get behind it you can sometimes get views.

[floraphile]

The hummer banders came yesterday to band our Rufous Hummingbird, but couldn't catch him.  They said they will return when it gets cold again.  I guess the birds feed more often when it's cold?  We were away at the CBC, so were not here when the bander came.  I was a little disappointed--we wanted to see their set-up.  Hubby thinks they probably use a "mist net", as he used those to catch little bats in Belize when he did research in college.  Any banders out there?

Edited December 28, 2020 by floraphile

[AlexHenry]

1 hour ago, floraphile said:

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous/Allen’s - you have not conclusively IDed the bird yet

[Avery]

2 hours ago, floraphile said:

The hummer banders came yesterday to band our Rufous Hummingbird, but couldn't catch him.  They said they will return when it gets cold again.  I guess the birds feed more often when it's cold?  We were away at the CBC, so were not here when the bander came.  I was a little disappointed--we wanted to see their set-up.  Hubby thinks they probably use a "mist net", as he used those to catch little bats in Belize when he did research in college.  Any banders out there?

I haven’t banded hummers but I banded songbirds and Saw-Whets. 
My guess is they would use a mist net, or multiple, to create a square around the feeder. I can’t even imagine trying to get a band on their legs... I have a hard enough time with the owls, though it isn’t the size if the band that’s the problem, it’s their talons. ? 

[floraphile]

7 hours ago, AlexHenry said:

Rufous/Allen’s - you have not conclusively IDed the bird yet

 @AlexHenry The banders ID'd it as Rufous.

[Tony Leukering]

Hummer banders typically use traps when trying to capture individuals.

[floraphile]

12 hours ago, Tony Leukering said:

Hummer banders typically use traps when trying to capture individuals.

That method (using traps) seems better for the birds.  

http://www.rubythroat.org/HummerCaptureMain.html#:~:text=Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris,sugar water feeder as bait.

[MCTX]

On 12/28/2020 at 8:56 AM, floraphile said:

They said they will return when it gets cold again.  I guess the birds feed more often when it's cold? 

Thanks for mentioning this.  I have been watching the winter hummingbirds at my house, and I can't figure out why they are around one day and gone a few days later.  They were around a lot after the last cold front, but not much yesterday (and it was warm).  I will see if they come back with colder weather.