ML260623341

Age and sex

Immature Male - 1

Behaviors

Foraging or eating

Observation details

Continuing bird originally found yesterday (9/5), by L. Corneliussen and Cochranes. We had been at the feeders for almost 50 minutes since the bird was last seen by others, when I heard "chimp" calls from the butterfly bush just to the east of the feeders. Shortly thereafter, the bird came to the main feeder in the middle of the yard and fed with ANHUs a total of four separate times over the next 11 minutes, always announcing its presence by calling. First appearing at 8:53 am and and not seen after it fed last, at 9:04 am. Bob and I departed shortly thereafter. Clearly a female-plumaged Archilochus hummingbird - Primaries: Photos show strong sharp taper to P6, often times being described as appearing “cut off.” Other primaries narrower than BCHU. Specifically, P4 and P5 are somewhat tapered and not rounded as would be expected of female-plumaged BCHU. Hint of notch on inner web of inner primaries can be seen in photo ML260623411, which supports RTHU. Narrowing outer web of P10 also supports RTHU and can be seen in photos ML260623221, ML260684201, and ML260623281 when zoomed way in. Other field notes: Dusky auricular and white post-ocular spot. Bill is also shorter, straighter, and less decurved than female BCHU. One thing that was notable for this bird in the field was it seemed more contrasting (deep green above, darker wings, brighter white below, golden green on crown), versus overall duskiness of BCHU. Tail noticeably longer past tips of primaries, but this is not necessarily diagnostic. Behavior: At one point it was facing me and hovering in flight with tail feathers flared while facing off with an ANHU. I watched the bird more and noted that as it flew it did not engage in tail pumping/flicking behavior often attributed to BCHU in flight. Wish I got a photo/video of that, but just as I turned my camera to video settings the bird took off. 4th MRN Co. record and the first one away from the feeders at K. Hansen's Gallery (per eBird), as others have noted. *CBRC Accepted Record #2020-085 Literature consulted: https://birdersjournal.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/hummingbird-id.pdf

Technical information

Model

ILCE-9

Lens

FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter

ISO

5000

Focal length

560 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

3478 pixels x 2319 pixels

Original file size

9.85 MB