Ruby-throated Hummingbird?

[Robert Nelson]

Estes Park, CO, Rocky Mountain National Park, July 13, 2018. The bird list for this area does't include the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, but it sure looks the ones in Arkansas.

https://flic.kr/p/29g4DcT

 

[psweet]

This is a great example of how poorly we eastern birders really know our own Ruby-throats. (No need to really look closely, since there's nothing to confuse them with.) This is a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird. From this shot, good things to look at are the absence of a black mask and the rosy rather than ruby red color on the throat.

[blackburnian]

I agree with both the ID and the point about easteners. I think that simply living in the east makes us complacent with Hummingbird IDs, because as you say, we think that no other hummingbirds are possible. Also, there’s this strange idea that the only regularly occurring “rare” Hummingbird in the east is Rufous, when in reality species such as Allen’s occur in the east regularly. 

Edited July 18, 2018 by blackburnian

[Robert Nelson]

Thank you!  ... and thank you for the observation about not taking ID for granted.