Having just reviewed the photos and the various resources this afternoon with Lee Ann van Leer, I feel some confidence in calling Marty's bird a hatch-year, or young female (hatched this year). Lee Ann and I agree.
Hatch-year males and female Rufous Hummingbirds are very similar, and both look pretty much like adult females. But the great photos that Jay posted (e.g., https://plus.google.com/photos/111137855303614931880/albums/5787306381681058289/5800340308927234226) show the tail well enough to distinguish them. Other parts of the plumage can help, but for Rufous/Allen's hummingbirds, it's all about the tail. Adult male Rufous have pointy rufous and black tail feathers, and that's obviously not what we're talking about here. The shiny green inner two sets of tail feathers rule out immature male, which has rufous at the base of them and pointy black tips. The very rounded nature of all of the tail feathers suggest that the bird is an immature and not an adult female, which has more pointy ones. The relatively broad outer tail feather is good for both female and the species ID of Rufous rather than Allen's. The basic field guides (Sibley, National Geographic) don't contain enough information for aging and sexing hummingbirds. Lee Ann was looking at Peter Pyle's Identification Guide, Part 1 (Slate Creek Press; the bible for banders). My copy is at work, so I was looking primarily at Sheri Williamson's Hummingbird guide in the Peterson series (especially plates 24 and 25), and Steve Howell's Hummingbirds of North America. I would also point interested folks to some old web pages on Rufous Hummingbird ID I still have at my Bad Photos of Good Birds site: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/rufous_hummingbird.htm http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/selashum02.htm Best, Kevin From: bounce-69406389-3493...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-69406389-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of nutter.d...@me.com Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2012 12:23 PM To: Nancy W Dickinson Cc: Donna Lee Scott; CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: Re: Re:[cayugabirds-l] Rufuous Hummingbird/Sweazey Screech Owl not Sibley gives dates only for the juvenile female plumage (like this bird) from June through November, and the subadult male plumage (similar to this bird except some rufous on the head and more red in the lower part of the throat) from August through December. We are in a period of overlap. If juvenile males and females are similar, maybe this could be a young male which has not yet begun to change to the subadult plumage. Actual information from more knowledgeable sources is welcome. --Dave Nutter On Oct 26, 2012, at 09:50 PM, Nancy W Dickinson <n...@cornell.edu<mailto:n...@cornell.edu>> wrote: Donna and all, I assumed it to be a young male, but after seeing it, posting, and THEN reviewing Jay's posts as well as the Sibley Guide, I thought it was a female. But, at what point do they look different? Whichever, it is very Rufous! Nancy Dickinson ________________________________ From: bounce-69402010-3493...@list.cornell.edu<mailto:bounce-69402010-3493...@list.cornell.edu> [bounce-69402010-3493...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Donna Scott [d...@cornell.edu] Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 7:29 PM To: Candace Cornell; CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: Re:[cayugabirds-l] Rufuous Hummingbird/Sweazey Screech Owl not So, is there now a MALE RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD at Schlabach's house on Powell Rd., Interlaken? The last two people posting about the bird called it "he" and "a stunning male". Also, so far, no Screech Owl in the usual tree on Sweazey Rd., Lansing. thanks, Donna Scott Lansing ----- Original Message ----- From: Candace Cornell<mailto:cec...@gmail.com> To: cayugabirds-l<mailto:cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 6:09 PM Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Rufuous Hummingbird plus Muckland highlights Nancy Ostman and I enjoyed a number of excellent views of the Rufous Hummingbird at the Schlabach home between 9:40-10:50 am. today. It is a stunning male, especially when the sunlight catches it just right. Many thanks to Marty and Mary Jean for opening their yard to birders! We headed to Knox-Marcellus where there were thousands of Canada Geese, some Cackling Geese, 30+ Green-winged Teal, 17 Sandhill Cranes, 37 Great Blue Herons together in a group in the grass, and a lone Bald Eagle perched in a tree top. As soon as we got there we were treated to a spectacular murmuration of starlings undulated across the marsh. Along the towpath, Fox and White-Crowned sparrows bathed in the puddles and foraged in the weeds. Another thousand or so Canada Geese also dominated the water into Puddler's Marsh. There they were joined by 150+ Snow Geese, more Cackling Geese, 20+ Northern Shovelers, 10+ Double-crested Cormorants, and numerous gulls. Two large plovers and a handful of peeps were too far away to ID. However, a flock of 25+ Pipits combed the water's edge up-close, affording terrific views of their foraging antics. Just as we were about to leave (13:00), the Bald Eagle soared overhead causing the entire flock of geese to take off in a panicked cacophony. What a beautiful birding day! 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