Bulletin 162 - AZ hummers #2

The Magnificent Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens) is another large (5.25") hummingbird of southeast AZ. It is appropriately named, as the male has a bright green gorget and purple crown. The rest of his body appears dark.

Magnificent Hummingbird - male

We also saw for the first time, a juvenile male. He is just starting to get some of his bright green throat feathers and purple crown feathers.

Magnificent Hummingbird - juvenile male

The Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) is a common hummingbird of the USA southwest. It is very similar to his cousin, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird of eastern North America. The male has a black chin and thin purple gorget below the black. I have always found it difficult to photograph to show off the purple feathers. This time I got lucky.

Black-chinned Hummingbird - male

Here is another hovering while doing his business.

Black-chinned Hummingbird - male

The Costa's Hummingbird (Calypte costae) is a very small (3.5") hummingbird of southern California and Arizona. I photographed a male bird last November in Tucson. This trip I got the female. She is IDed more by her shape. Notice the large round head and short thick neck. Also, the wing tips extend just beyond the tail.

Costa's Hummingbird - female

The familiar Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) is a small (3.75") hummingbird of the Pacific northwest. However, a few winter along the Gulf coast and I have been blessed to have had a few birds visiting my feeders the last 3 winters. The adult male is almost completely orange. We saw a single bird, but I wasn't able to get a photo. However, here is a juvenile male.

Rufous Hummingbird - juvenile male

Here is another juvenile male. He appears to have some sort of tumor on his face, as there is a tuft of feathers just above the beak.



Rufous Hummingbird - juvenile male

The female has less rufous and just a couple of red throat spots.

Rufous Hummingbird - female

Lastly we had a hybrid hummingbird. This was explained as a Lucifer x Costa's cross. The Costa's is evident with the purple crown. I am not sure how the Lucifer was delineated. The Lucifer does have a very narrow tail, and maybe this bird had that, but I didn't see it, if that was the case. They called it a Costifer Hummingbird for the parents.

Lucifer x Costas's Hummingbird - hybrid

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2012 David McDonald

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Bulletin 161 - Arizona hummers #1

Southeast Arizona in late summer has a possible 13 species of  hummingbirds. These species include all the 10 normal western hummers (Lucifer, Violet-crowned, Broad-billed, Blue-throated, Magnificent,  Allen's, Costa's, Rufous, Calliope, and Broad-tailed). Several Mexican vagrants are possible as well (Plain-capped Starthroat, Berylline and White-eared). Lisa and I spent a few days there is mid August with guide Melody Kehl and searched for them.

We saw all of the western birds except Broad-tailed and Violet-crowned. In addition we saw a Plain-capped Starthroat (lifer for me) but were unable to get any photos. The other two Mexican species were not present this year at all.

The Lucifer Hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer) is a small (3.5") hummer with a curved beak. The male has a long purple gorget. An important ID mark is the very narrow tail. Here are several photos of a male.



Lucifer Hummingbird - male

Lucifer Hummingbird - male

The Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cyanthus latirostris) is a most beautiful bird. The male has a green back, blue throat, dark tail, and red bill tipped with black.

Broad-billed Hummingbird - male

We saw several juvenile males as well whose throats and breasts had some blue feathers molting into full adult plumage. Here are a couple of different birds in various stages of molt. This one lacks much of the blue throat.

Broad-billed Hummingbird - juvenile male

And another with a full throat of color, but incomplete breast feathers.

Broad-billed Hummingbird - juvenile male

The male Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) has a red throat and a red crown. The back is green



Anna's Hummingbird - male

The juvenile males lacked a complete set of red feathers.

Anna's Hummingbird - juvenile male

The Blue-throated Hummingbird (Lampornis clemenciae) is a large (5") hummer of mountain canyons. Both sexes has extensive white coners to their tails as an important field mark. The male has a blue throat and gray breast. The female has a gray throat. The bill is black. Here is a male in profile. The blue is not as dramatic as in the Broad-billed hummer above.

Blue-throated Hummingbird - male

Here is a bird looking at the camera and I was able to catch the iridescence of his gorget. The white in his tail is clearly seen as well.



Blue-throated Hummingbird - male

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2012 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.