ML132893141

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

During a brief stop to check the hummingbird feeders along the road while Guy spoke with the homeowner at this yard along 4th Street, I heard the wing trill of an adult male Selasphorus, and shortly later, I spotted what appeared to be an adult male Allen's Hummingbird as it visited one of the feeders. We all then spent a short time checking the feeders and we managed to see this bird return several times. Given that I was trying to get photos for documentation, I never did study this bird with my scope, but I did observe it through my binoculars in addition to taking photos. I never certainly heard this bird call and, in general, we did not hear an obvious wing trill when it appeared. This bird seemed to be slightly smaller than the other birds that visited the feeders and the more plentiful Black-chinned Hummingbirds regularly chased it off, which made it difficult to study carefully. I thought this bird had a compact shape with a bill that was about as long as the head was wide, a large head and a plump body, but also a short neck and a spiky tail of medium length for a hummingbird. The wings were moving too fast to see much of their shape or length, and apart from noting that the tail was somewhat shorter than the body without the head, I never did determine its length with any precision. Despite its diminutive size, this was a brightly colored bird. Given that I was trying to get photos and that I saw this bird perch only once and even then for only a few seconds, I had a hard time distinguishing anything more than the general patterns of the plumage. I was nevertheless able to note that the gorget was complete in its extension from the chin down to the upper breast and out to the sides. When seen in good light (which was rarely) the gorget was bright red in coloration, but most of the time it simply appeared dark. The sides of the face and neck were a bright, rufous-orange color, but the crown, nape, and back were an iridescent, grassy-green. I also noted a white crescent that extended across the breast and sides, but the flanks were extensively rufous, and I think the center of the belly was whitish. I am not sure where precisely the green of the lower back merged with the orange of the uppertail coverts, but the demarcation did appear to be relatively sharp and I suspect it was somewhere on the rump. The tail was almost entirely rufous and it had the spiky appearance of that of an adult male bird. The only contrast that I noted on the tail resulted from what appeared to be dusky, if not blackish, shaft-streaks on at least several pairs of feathers. I thought the bill and eyes were dark, but I could probably only be sure that they were not obviously pale, and I cannot recall ever seeing the legs or feet on this bird.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

800

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

1248 pixels x 890 pixels

Original file size

1.08 MB