7 replies to this topic

[snick]

Seen in back yard. Residential San Jose, CA. Not certain if Anna's or another species.

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[psweet]

I'm leaning towards Black-chinned here. Anna's usually show quite a bit of gray to green mottling on the flanks, and I don't see that here. The lack of rufous rules out a bunch of possibilities as well, and I'm not sure the date's right for Costa's in your area.

[larrcamp]

I'm no expert on female or young hummingbirds by any stretch of the imagination. So psweet you may well be right. But I am from this area and can tell you that Black-Chins are very rare here except in migration..

[psweet]

Okay, correction accepted (I'll assume the beginning of June is late for a migrant). I don't really have an ID for you, just don't like it for Anna's, Broad-tail, Rufous, or Allens. Not much help, I guess.

[snick]

Actual date of the photo is July 17th of last year. Not sure if that helps.

[sdearth]

It could be a Calliope juvi. The head is right and no stripes on belly and white chest.

[psweet]

The date does help -- I'd assumed that this was shot the last few days. Looking some more, I'm beginning to wonder if there really is some mottling on the flanks, washed out by the exposure. The tail seems too long for Costa's and the wingtips don't seem to be the right shape for Black-chinned.

[psweet]

Calliope females and immatures show a fair bit of tawny to rufous color underneath -- all I see on this bird is a little bit of color right next to the feet. Calliope would also be even farther out of range than Black-chinned, at least according to Sherri Williamson's guide. Still, it was worth checking on.