Birders Viewed from a balcony or a low-flying cropduster, SJD and yours truly could pass for twins. There the resemblance ends, but I'll second Steve's cautionary message. Like 3- and 4-year gulls, immature and female hummingbirds are the bane of my personal ID skills. When I lived on the left coast, many a time I had to be content with Selaphorus sp.
Bill Scheible Cedar Rapids ----- Original Message ----- From: Dinsmore, Stephen J [NREM] To: IA-BIRD Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 9:58 PM Subject: [ia-bird] Rufous Hummingbird. I've read all the reports of the Madison County bird, but no one has provided any details about why this is a Rufous Hummingbird and not some other species (especially Allen's Hummingbird). The bird is not an adult male, so any identification to species should be made with caution. While I agree that the odds favor it being a Rufous, this alone should not be used a criterion for its identification. Hopefully, someone can offer additional identification details on this bird and we can add it to the small list of confirmed Rufous Hummingbirds found in Iowa. Steve ********** Stephen J. Dinsmore Department of Natural Resource Ecology & Management Iowa State University 339 Science II Ames, IA 50011 Phone: 515-294-1348 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cootjr/ --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected] --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
