Mystery selasphorus adult male
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kuschmanfred
An interesting adult male selasphorus hummer showed up in my garden today. Its back is mostly green which made me suspect it might be an Allen's. In the past a few Allen's have visited briefly in late June, so this would be unusually early. But when I took a few photos to confirm that it was an Allen’s the tail pattern clearly identified it as a Rufous, with R2 deeply notched. Some Rufous do in fact have various amounts of green on their backs from a few flecks to almost mostly all green on their upper backs. This bird fits that pattern but it raises the question what an adult male Rufous would be doing here at this time. It would be rather late for it still migrating northbound and it would be way too early for a southbound migrant. In addition, adult male Rufous practically never migrate southbound through our area holding to a more easterly path. We observe only females and juveniles in the fall, starting in late August. So this may be a late migrant Rufous, no telling where he is heading and what hopes he may have of still finding a girl friend at this point.
Manfred Kusch 3 miles west of Davis |
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L Markoff
Last year on May 29 I posted to CVB about a late Selasphorus that showed up here. I too thought it early for southbound Rufous so assumed it must have been a late bird heading north. I posted:
Last night towards dusk I saw a Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird on our feeder. I tried for photos but missed. This morning it is still here and I managed to get some photos. Light wasn’t good, but I might have seen a few bits of green on its back, not sure. Very surprised, seems late for this location.
Here are a few photos, including video: https://www.flickr.com/gp/canyoneagle/w1U87Z
So far this spring my latest Rufous was a female on 5/11. But I’m keeping an eye out for stragglers, just in case.
Lori Markoff Citrus Heights
-----Original Message-----
An interesting adult male selasphorus hummer showed up in my garden today. Its back is mostly green which made me suspect it might be an Allen's. In the past a few Allen's have visited briefly in late June, so this would be unusually early. But when I took a few photos to confirm that it was an Allen’s the tail pattern clearly identified it as a Rufous, with R2 deeply notched. Some Rufous do in fact have various amounts of green on their backs from a few flecks to almost mostly all green on their upper backs. This bird fits that pattern but it raises the question what an adult male Rufous would be doing here at this time. It would be rather late for it still migrating northbound and it would be way too early for a southbound migrant. In addition, adult male Rufous practically never migrate southbound through our area holding to a more easterly path. We observe only females and juveniles in the fall, starting in late August. So this may be a late migrant Rufous, no telling where he is heading and what hopes he may have of still finding a girl friend at this point.
Manfred Kusch 3 miles west of Davis
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